THE  ROMANCE  OF 
AMERICAN  COLONIZATION 


WILLIAM  -  ELLIOT  -  GRIFFI S 


THE  ]  JBRARY 


THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  CALIFORNIA 


LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 


COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


THE 
ROMANCE    OF    AMERICAN    COLONIZATION 


WORKS  OF  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  DISCOVERY:  A  THOUSAND  YEARS 
OF  EXPLORATION  AND  THE  UNVEILING  OF  CONTI- 
NENTS. 305  pages.  With  five  full-page  pictures  by 
FRANK  T.  MERRILL.  Cloth,  gilt  top.  i2mo.  $1.50. 

THE     ROMANCE     OF     AMERICAN     COLONIZATION  : 

How  THE  FOUNDATION  STONES  OF  OUR  HISTORY 
WERE  LAID.  295  pages.  With  five  full-page  pictures  by 
FRANK  T.  MERRILL.  Cloth,  gilt  top.  lamo.  $1.50. 


IN  PREPARATION. 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  CONQUEST:  THE  TRIUMPHS  OF 
AMERICAN  ARMS  AND  DIPLOMACY.  Illustrated.  Cloth, 
gilt  top.  i2mo.  $1.50. 


WASHINGTON'S  FIRST  COMMAND. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AMERICAN 
COLONIZATION 


HOW   THE  FOUNDATION  STONES  OF  OUR 
HISTORY  W 'ERE  LAID 


BY 

WILLIAM    ELLIOT   GRIFFIS 

MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN    HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MIKADO'S  EMPIRE,"   "BRAVE   LITTLE   HOLLAND' 

"THE  PILGRIMS   IN  THEIR  THREE    HOMES,"    "THE 

ROMANCE  OF  DISCOVERY,"   ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED   BY 

FRANK  T.   MERRILL 


BOSTON   AND  CHICAGO 
W.   A.   WILDE  &  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,  1898, 

BY  W.  A.  WILDE  &  COMPANY. 

All  rights  reserved. 


THE   ROMANCE   OF  AMERICAN    COLONIZATION. 


E 


TO    THE 

"Brother  Bogs" 
STANTON  AND  JOHN 

MAY    THEY    INHERIT    THE    VIRTUES 
AND  AVOID   THE  VICES 

OF  THEIR 
ENGLISH  ANCESTORS 


PREFACE. 


THE  foundations  of  the  American  Commonwealth,  as 
laid  by  Divine  Providence,  are  broader  and  deeper  than 
the  average  writer  of  our  national  history  seems  to  have 
perceived.  Our  country  is  not  a  new  England.  It  is  a 
new  and  better  Europe,  dominated  by  that  kind  of  Chris- 
tianity which  is  all  the  purer  because  of  freedom  from 
political  control.  To  the  making  of  the  nation  many 
peoples  contributed  by  sending  their  sons  and  daughters 
with  varied  gifts  of  race  and  temperament,  as  well  as 
with  faith,  moral  fibre,  ideas,  and  experience. 

In  "The  Romance  of  American  Colonization,"  omitting 
military  matters,  the  story  from  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  to 
July  4,  1776,  is  briefly  told.  Less  stress  has  been  laid 
upon  mere  political  enactments  and  the  doings  of  kings 
and  princes,  and  more  upon  the  work  of  the  people  them- 
selves. The  purpose  has  rather  been  to  show  what  the 
real  builders  of  the  nation  have  done. 

It  is  not  forgotten  that  Swiss,  German,  Dutch,  French, 
Walloon,  Scandinavian,  Welsh,  Irish,  and  Scottish,  as  well 
as  English,  helped  to  make  our  country.  Christian  and 

7 


8  PREFACE. 

Jew,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  political  and  free  church- 
men, Puritan  and  Lutheran,  believers  and  skeptics,  the 
Indian  and  the  Negro,  have  borne  each  his  part  in  the 
making  of  colonial  America. 

If  it  appears  in  this  book  that  to  the  Middle  region  is 
given  an  importance  equal  to  the  Eastern  or  Southern, 
that  our  fathers  took  most  of  their  political  precedents 
from  a  republic  and  not  from  a  monarchy,  that  our  gen- 
eral procedure  is  adapted  from  democratic  rather  than 
aristocratic  communities,  that  our  religion  is  continued 
from  free  rather  than  political  churches,  that  the  emi- 
gration of  the  Scotch-Irish  exerted  an  influence  second 
'to  none  other,  that  the  Catholics  have  been  a  nobly  con- 
servative force,  and  that  in  the  American  composite  the 
continental  as  well  as  the  insular  elements  have  been 
potent  leaven  for  freedom  and  righteousness,  it  is  because 
the  facts  seem  to  warrant  the  statements  made. 

What  a  wonderful  process  of  sifting  and  filtering,  of 
being  poured  from  vessel  to  vessel,  was  that  among  the 
nations  of  northern  Europe,  which  gave  us  under  God  the 
mother-liquid  out  of  which  has  crystallized  the  republic  of 

the  United  States  of  America  ! 

W.  E.  G. 
ITHACA,  N.Y.,  June,  1898. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  WHAT  is  A  COLONY? 13 

II.  THE  DOMAIN  OF  THE  VIRGIN  QUEEN 25 

III.  TOBACCO,  BRIDES,  AND  BLACK  SERVANTS       ....  37 

IV.  LIVELY  POLITICS  IN  THE  OLD  DOMINION       ....  48 
V.  THE  WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND 55 

VI.  OUR  DUTCH  FOREFATHERS      .        .        .        .        .        .        .71 

VII.  THE  THREE  VAN  CURLERS 82 

VIII.  THE  FREE  CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA        .        .  94 

IX.  IN  THE  LAND  WHERE  CONSCIENCE  WAS  FREE       .        .        .  107 

X.  PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION 116 

XI.  THE  GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS 129 

XII.  CONNECTICUT,  RHODE  ISLAND,  AND  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  .        .147 

XIII.  MARYLAND  AND  CATHOLIC  LIBERALITY 162 

XIV.  THE  CAROLINAS 169 

XV.  GEORGIA,  THE  LAST  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES.        .        .177 

XVI.  WILLIAM  PENN  AND  THE  JERSEYS 183 

XVII.  PENN'S  EXPERIMENT  OF  A  GODLY  COMMONWEALTH       .        .  193 

XVIII.  NEW  SWEDEN  AND  DELAWARE 202 

XIX.  GERMANIC  OR  LATIN  CIVILIZATION  IN  NORTH  AMERICA?      .  209 

XX.  GOVERNOR    LEISLER,    THE    HUGUENOTS,   AND   THE    ROYAL 

WARS 223 

9 


10  TABLE    OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXI.  THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY  AND  THE  PALATINE  GERMANS        .  232 

XXII.  THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  EMIGRATION 239 

XXIII.  WASHINGTON,  THE  COLONIAL  FRONTIERSMAN       .        .        .  246 

XXIV.  FALL  OF  THE  FRENCH  POWER  IN  AMERICA         .        .        .  253 
XXV.  LAWFUL  RESISTANCE  TO  UNLAWFUL  TAXATION  .        .        .  262 

XXVI.  GOLDEN  HILL,  ALAMANCE,  AND  THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE    .  271 

XXVII.  "  I  WILL  MAINTAIN  " 277 

XXVIII.  JULY  4,  1776,  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA        .  288 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Washington's  First  Command     .         .         .         Frontispiece     249 

"  John  Rolfe  married  Pocahontas,  the  daughter  of  Pow- 

hatan " .       39 

"  The  trumpeter  was  a  striking  and  picturesque  figure  "       .       84 
"'What  cheer?'"      .'  .        .         .        .        .         .138 

William  Penn  taking  formal  possession  of  Pennsylvania        .     194 


ii 


THE    ROMANCE    OF    AMERICAN 
COLONIZATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

WHAT    IS    A    COLONY? 

WHAT  is  a  colony? 
Down  at  the  roots,  the  idea  of  a  colony  is 
that  of  a  company  of  people  away  from  their  old 
home,  who  are  cultivating  the  soil.  True  colonists 
are  first  of  all  farmers.  There  may  be  sailors,  sol- 
diers, priests,  political  rulers ;  but  unless  there  are 
tillers  of  the  soil  who  expect  to  make  the  new  coun- 
try their  home,  there  is  no  true  colony.  A  garrison, 
a  body  of  traders,  a  governor  and  his  staff  of  officers, 
do  not  make  a  colony.  People  who  emigrate,  but 
expect  to  stay  awhile  and  then  go  back  home  again, 
will  never  make  a  settlement  that  will  grow  into  a 
state.  A  true  colony  begins  when  men  make  the 
earth  on  which  they  dwell  support  them. 

There  were  not   a   few  colonies   in   the  ancient 
world.     The    mythology  of   many  nations    teaches 

13 


14        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

that  their  ancestors  grew  out  of  the  soil,  but  history 
shows  that  they  came  from  other  countries.  Asia 
and  Europe  were  colonized  as  well  as  America.  The 
story  of  the  colonization  of  Korea,  Japan,  and  India 
is  quite  well,  and  that  of  China  fairly,  known. 

The  most  ancient  voyage  of  discovery  mentioned 
by  the  classic  poets  and  myth-makers  is  that  of  the 
ship  Argo,  before  the  Trojan  War.  Under  com- 
mand of  Jason,  the  Argonauts  sailed  to  Colchis  on 
the  Euxine  Sea  to  recover  the  Golden  Fleece,  which 
was  guarded  by  a  sleepless  dragon.  Hercules, 
Theseus,  Castor,  Pollux,  and  Orpheus  were  among 
the  famous  heroes  in  the  crew.  How  they  tamed 
the  fire-breathing  bulls,  slew  the  dragon,  sowed  its 
teeth,  won  the  fleece,  and  escaped  the  sirens  is  told 
in  the  lovely  Grecian  fairy  lore.  In  plain  prose,  all 
this  means  that  after  a  rough  voyage  and  many 
adventures  a  band  of  colonists  broke  up  the  hard 
soil  with  the  plough,  sowed  their  seed,  suffered 
many  terrors,  but  persevered  until  the  golden  fleece, 
in  the  form  of  a  harvest  of  ripe  grain,  covered  the 
landscape.  They  succeeded  in  colonization  and 
then  began  trade.  Our  American  history,  though 
real,  is  a  much- more  wonderful  story,  and  the  golden 
fleece  of  our  national  prosperity  a  thousand-fold 
richer. 

Greece  was  one  of  the  first  countries  in  Europe 
to  be  civilized,  because  it  was  nearest  to  the  old 


WHAT  IS  A    COLONY?  15 

seats  of  civilization  in  Egypt  and  Syria.  Through 
the  Trojan  War  the  Greeks  became  acquainted  with 
Asia  and  its  riches.  When  the  Hellenic  states 
became  overcrowded,  colonization  began  by  public 
act.  The  poor  and  the  discontented,  among  whom 
there  were  many  dangerous  characters,  who  were 
yet  brave  and  enterprising,  were  shipped  to  other 
lands  to  form  Greater  Greece.  These  led  to  the 
enterprises  which  lined  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor 
with  settlements  that  grew  into  rich  and  flourishing 
cities.  Shut  up  by  their  mountains  on  the  north, 
the  Greeks  were  free  upon  the  sea.  Sailing  in 
every  direction,  they  located  in  the  Crimea,  upon 
the  coasts  of  Italy,  and  even  in  France,  Spain,  and 
Africa. 

The  emigrants  took  from  their  old  homes  fire 
kindled  on  the  city  hearthstone,  and  remembered 
the  traditions  of  heroism  and  religion  taught  them 
by  their  fathers  and  mothers.  A  typical  Greek  city 
on  the  Mediterranean  lay  midway  between  the  deep 
blue  sea  in  front  and  the  wheat  fields,  orchards,  and 
groves  on  land,  and  often  in  rich  valley  or  at  the 
mouth  of  a  river.  Reared  at  first  of  wood,  it  be- 
came in  time  a  glorious  mass  of  brick  and  marble. 

With  agriculture,  industry,  and  commerce,  there 
grew  up  a  Greek  world.  These  colonists,  looking 
with  reverence  upon  the  mother  country,  still  re- 
garded themselves  as  Greeks.  Their  language  was 


1 6        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

one.  Their  common  book  was  Homer.  Their 
method  of  government  was  federal.  The  several 
states  were  represented  in  the  Congress  called  the 
Amphictyonic  League.  At  the  public  games  any 
Greek,  from  the  Black  Sea  region  to  the  Iberian 
peninsula  guarded  by  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  could 
contend  with  full  rights.  Glorious  was  the  history 
of  the  Greek  colonists  during  a  thousand  years. 

The  Romans  developed  colonial  enterprises  on  a 
grand  scale.  From  them  we  get  the  word  "  colony," 
though  we  must  add  Greek  to  get  "  colonize  "  and 
"  colonization."  A  colony  was  a  collection  of  coloni 
or  farmers  in  a  new  land.  The  root-idea  of  a  col- 
onist was  that  he  was  a  colonus,  or  husbandman  who 
tilled  the  soil  and  dwelt  upon  it.  The  words  "  col- 
ony," "  cultivate,"  "  cult,"  and  "  culture  "  have  all 
the  same  root,  which,  back  in  the  ancient  Sanskrit 
tongue,  is  probably  kal,  which  means  to  drive.  As 
the  root-idea  of  father  is  that  of  protector,  of  mother 
manager,  and  of  daughter  milker,  so  in  that  of  colo- 
nist we  have  the  picture  of  a  ploughman  behind 
his  oxen  turning  up  the  soil  for  food. 

The  first  Roman  colonies  were  made  up  of  sol- 
diers who  garrisoned  the  conquered  or  hostile  terri- 
tory. When  Italy  became  overcrowded,  colonies 
were  founded  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  Rome. 
This  was  a  sort  of  ancient  and  permanent  "  Fresh- 
air  Fund."  When  the  empire  required  large 


WHAT  IS  A    COLONY?  \"J 

armies  to  occupy  its  vast  domain,  there  were  great 
numbers  of  veterans,  for  whom  it  must  provide. 
These  old  soldiers  were  not  pensioned  in  money,  as 
in  our  modern  history ;  for  Rome  was  rich  in  land 
rather  than  in  cash.  So  it  was  after  our  Revolution- 
ary War,  when  the  United  States  was  very  poor  in 
coin,  but  very  rich  in  territory.  The  old  Continen- 
tals were  paid  not  in  gold  and  silver,  but  in  land 
warrants.  The  American  coloni  helped  largely  in 
building  up  what  was  then  called  the  Great  West. 

The  Roman  colony  was  thus  a  foundation  for  the 
benefit  of  veteran  soldiers  who  had  served  out  their 
time  in  the  army.  These  colonists  retained  their 
citizenship,  while  receiving  their  lands  by  lot. 
When  the  empire  extended  from  Britain  to  Persia 
and  from  Germany  to  the  African  deserts,  colonies 
were  very  numerous.  They  were  of  various  grades, 
but  every  district  settled  was  considered  an  inte- 
gral part  of  the  empire.  In  some  colonies  settlers 
enjoyed  all,  but  in  others  only  a  few  privileges  of 
Roman  citizenship.  Veterans  usually  settled  on  the 
soil  allotted  to  them  and  married,  and  their  children 
and  descendants  grew  up,  becoming  citizens  both  of 
the  particular  state  and  of  the  empire.  As  a  rule, 
the  central  government  at  Rome  appointed  their 
ablest  men  as  colonial  governors,  but  their  tenure  of 
office  was  limited,  lest  through  personal  influence 
they  might  grow  too  powerful.  The  chief  feature 


1 8        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

of  the  Roman  system,  that  of  centralization,  was 
carefully  preserved  in  order  to  prevent  colonies  from 
becoming  independent. 

This  is  the  system,  in  an  improved  form,  which 
the  British  government  has  so  largely  copied,  espe- 
cially since  the  American  Revolutionary  War,  which 
taught  much  wisdom.  Many  of  the  English  gov- 
ernors sent  to  rule  our  fathers  were  weak,  foolish,  or 
unworthy  men ;  but  now  extreme  care  is  taken  in 
London  to  send  the  ablest  men  to  Canada,  India, 
South  Africa,  Australia,  and  other  colonies.  They 
are  also  moved  about  from  country  to  country,  so  as 
to  keep  power  centralized  in  England.  The  Irish- 
man Sir  Hercules  Robinson,  one  of  the  best  of 
Great  Britain's  colonial  governors,  of  whose  death 
in  October,  1897,  we  read  as  we  revise  this  chapter, 
governed  well  no  fewer  than  six  British  colonies  on 
four  continents.  Nevertheless,  signs  are  not  want- 
ing that  the  idea  of  federation,  so  splendidly  demon- 
strated in  American  history,  will  yet  become  the 
rule,  and  the  British  United  States  take  the  place 
of  the  United  Kingdom  and  her  colonies. 

Grandly  the  Roman  colonies  fulfilled  their  mis- 
sion. To-day,  after  more  than  twelve  hundred  years 
from  the  fall  of  the  Roman  empire,  we  see  that 
some  of  the  richest  associations  of  history  are  with 
colonies.  When  St.  Paul  sailed  from  the  seaport  of 
Troas  in  Asia  to  introduce  Christian  civilization  in 


WHAT  fS  A    COLONY?  ig 

Europe,  he  preached  the  gospel  first  at  Philippi, 
which,  as  St.  Luke,  the  historian  of  the  Book  of 
Acts,  notes,  was  a  colony,  or,  as  the  Geneva  version 
says,  a  place  to  which  people  went  from  Rome  to 
live.  The  name  of  another  Roman  colony  in 
Britain,  on  the  Lind  River,  has  descended  to  us  in 
that  of  a  city  and  also  of  Lincoln,  one  of  the  great- 
est of  our  presidents.  In  the  geography  of  the 
Roman  empire  no  name  is  more  frequently  found 
than  that  of  Colonia,  unless  we  except  Augusta  and 
Castra.  Besides  the  term  signifying  that  the  place 
was  a  colony,  there  was  some  other  name  given 
from  circumstances  attending  the  settlement.  Just 
as  "  castra,"  or  camp,  becomes  changed  into  "  caster  " 
as  in  Lancaster,  Caesarea  into  Jersey,  Julius  Caesar 
into  Julich  or  Gulick,  and  Caesar  Augustus  into 
Saragossa,  so  the  word  "  colonia "  has  suffered 
curious  changes,  as  we  see  in  English  "  coin  "  and 
"  colony "  and  in  Cologne  on  the  Rhine. 

In  the  Roman  as  well  as  in  the  Greek  colonial 
system,  the  idea  of  close  connection  with  and  de- 
pendence upon  the  mother  country  was  always 
maintained.  The  governing  corporation  of  each 
Roman  colony  was  dependent  upon  that  of  Rome. 
The  idea  was  that  the  colony  was  always  to  be  a 
part  of  the  nation  and  empire. 

This  description  separates  the  Roman  or  Greek 
colony  entirely  from  that  of  a  simple  migration  or 


20        THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

wandering  of  a  people  from  the  old  ancestral  seats, 
into  a  new  country  or  continent ;  as,  for  example, 
when  the  Asiatic  tribes  that  came  to  inhabit  North 
America  forgot  their  old  homes.  When  the  high- 
landers  on  the  steppes  of  North  Asia,  known  in 
history  as  Scythians,  Huns,  Turks,  Tartars,  or 
Mongols,  in  various  a^es  invaded  the  southern 

O  *— * 

countries,  they  also  retained  little  or  no  connection 
with  their  ancestral  lands.  Indeed,  uncivilized  peo- 
ple, that  is,  people  who  have  no  writing,  quickly 
forget  their  past.  Whether  it  be  the  New  England- 
ers  who  go  down  into  the  mountains  of  Kentucky, 
or  the  Normans  who  descend  from  Scandinavia  into 
France,  they  forget  their  fathers.  Illiteracy  means 
darkness  as  to  history.  Life  without  letters  is  death. 
We  do  not,  therefore,  speak  of  the  westward  migra- 
tion of  the  Celts  as  far  as  Ireland,  the  advance  of 
the  Teutonic  or  of  the  Gothic  nations  into  western 
or  southern  Europe,  as  movements  of  colonists;  for 
they  kept  no  remembrance  of  the  land  they  left 
behind. 

During  the  middle  ages,  the  Italians  sent  out 
bodies  of  men  into  various  parts  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, who  extended  Venetian  and  Genoese  trade 
and  commerce  in  subject  or  neighbor  lands.  Vari- 
ous companies  of  Lombards,  and  other  Italians, 
went  also  into  northern  Europe.  They  became 
the  money-changers  of  the  nations  beyond  the 


WHAT  IS  A    COLONY?  21 

Alps,  introducing  financial  customs  and  enterprises. 
Yet  these  can  hardly  be  called  true  colonists. 

In  modern  times,  we  must  award  first  honors  of 
colonization  to  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards;  for 
the  former  had  planted  colonies,  some  a  century 
old,  in  Brazil,  Africa,  and  Asia,  and  the  latter  in 
South  America,  Mexico,  and  the  West  Indies,  before 
the  Englishmen  obtained  foothold  on  any  continent 
beyond  Europe.  Yet,  let  us  note  at  once  how  dif- 
ferent these  were  —  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  — 
from  the  English  and  Dutch  methods  and  results. 
The  two  nations  of  the  Iberian  peninsula  did,  indeed, 
lead  the  modern  European  states  in  replenishing 
and  subduing  newly  discovered  continents,  yet  in 
neither  case  were  these  enterprises  begun  by  a 
movement  of  the  people.  The  King  of  Spain,  con- 
sidering America  as  his  private  property,  wished  to 
establish  one  great  empire  in  Europe,  and  another 
beyond  the  Atlantic,  so  that  when  united  under  his 
own  crown,  these  should  be  grander  in  area  and 
splendor  than  the  old  Roman  empire  itself.  With 
this  purpose  in  view,  he  sent  out  noblemen  of  high 
rank  with  princely  salaries,  who  led  their  personal 
followers  after  them.  So,  also,  did  Portugal  in 
Brazil  and  the  East,  and  France  in  Canada  and 
Louisiana.  It  was  the  old  Roman  way  over  again, 
without  any  improvement.  The  story  of  the  early 
Spanish  explorers  in  America  has  been  already 


22        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

told  in  our  previous  volume,  entitled  "  The  Romance 
of  Discovery." 

In  the  case  of  the  British  and  Dutch  colonists, 
the  spirit  and  method  were  entirely  different.  The 
people  went  first.  The  dignitaries  followed  after- 
ward. The  colonies  which  now  form  the  United 
States  were,  for  the  most  part,  the  results  of  move- 
ments among  the  English,  Scottish,  Irish,  Welsh, 
Huguenot,  Walloon,  and  German  people,  who  were 
dissatisfied  either  with  the  kind  of  government 
under  which  they  lived,  or  the  religion  which  poli- 
ticians tried  to  force  upon  them.  They  were  not 
contented,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  their  con- 
sciences had  been  enlightened.  They  could  not 
live  happily  under  the  sort  of  church  and  state 
which  then  existed.  They  longed  for  more  freedom. 
Coming  to  the  new  continent  of  America,  they 
obtained  what  they  sought.  Some,  indeed, —  Dutch, 
Swedes,  Swiss,  English,  —  without  any  grievances  at 
home,  were  moved  by  love  of  adventure  or  were 
tempted  by  hopes  of  wealth  to  be  got  in  the  fisher- 
ies, the  fur  trade,  the  supposed  gold  mines,  by  rear- 
ing silkworms,  or  in  developing  the  wonderful  re- 
sources of  the  new  land. 

English  colonization  was  begun  by  the  English 
people.  At  first  these  pioneers  who  had  crossed 
the  sea  were  ignored  or  neglected  by  their  govern- 
ment. Only  when  the  colonies  began  to  prosper 


WHAT  IS  A    COLONY?  2$ 

did  royalty  pay  much  attention  to  them.  Becoming 
rich,  they  offered  a  tempting  field  for  taxation  and 
the  filling  of  the  British  coffers.  Then  king  and 
parliament  joined  in  a  scheme  to  tax  the  American 
colonists  in  the  Roman  way,  which  was  something 
which  men  of  Dutch  and  British  descent  would  not 
stand.  The  ancient  doctrine,  first  formulated  by 
the  Netherlanders  and  later  by  the  English,  was 
"  No  taxation  without  consent."  They  who  pay 
the  taxes  must  first  vote  them. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  Revolutionary  War  that 
the  British  government  fully  formulated  a  colonial 
policy  like  that  of  the  ancient  Roman  empire,  but 
with  modern  improvements  added  because  of  expe- 
rience with  America.  Such  a  policy,  wisely  carried 
out,  has  been  best  for  both  the  colonists  and  abo- 
rigines. It  often  happens  that  the  first  discoverers, 
explorers,  and  settlers  are  little  better  than  pirates 
and  robbers,  who  take  land  as  they  please,  caring 
nothing  for  the  rights  of  inferior  races  already  on 
the  soil.  The  British  colonists  in  Africa,  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  India,  and  other  parts  of  the  world 
have  found  that  all  the  land  which  they  had  con- 
quered, occupied,  or  bought  in  large  quantities  from 
the  natives  for  guns,  beads,  wire,  shovels,  a  looking- 
glass,  or  a  piece  of  red  cloth  was  not  wholly  their 
own.  These  have  had  to  yield  their  claims  to 
those  of  the  British  crown.  Having  learned  wis- 


24        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

dom  from  her  mistakes  in  dealing  with  the  Ameri- 
can colonies,  Great  Britain  has  become  the  mother 
of  many  nations. 

In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  first 
object  of  a  patriotic  Englishman  or  Dutchman  was 
to  humble  Spain.  The  monarchy  that  then  owned 
America  was  the  dominating  power  threatening  all 
Europe.  The  two  small  countries  which  crippled 
and  impoverished  Spain  became  the  two  most  suc- 
cessful colonizers  the  modern  world  has  seen.  In 
American  history,  the  term  "  colony  "  has  come  into 
our  speech  from  the  Dutch.  In  Virginia,  the  Caro- 
linas,  and  Massachusetts  the  settlements  were  all 
called  "  plantations,"  but  in  New  Netherland  "  col- 
onies." 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    DOMAIN    OF   THE    VIRGIN    QUEEN. 

OIR  WALTER  RALEIGH  led  the  way  in  awak- 
S*  ening  the  English  mind  to  colonial  enterprise  and 
even  in  attempting  himself  to  plant  colonies  in  the 
region  of  Virginia.  Although  these  first  ventures 
failed,  Raleigh  will  not  be  forgotten  by  Americans. 

Woman's  aid  helped  mightily  to  make  America. 
As  Isabella  first  encouraged  Columbus,  so  Queen 
Elizabeth  favored  Raleigh.  In  1578  she  granted 
the  first  charter  for  English  colonization  on  the 
North  American  continent.  The  name,  Virginia, 
which  she  gave,  though  now  restricted  to  a  single 
state,  included  all  the  land  which  on  July  4,  1776, 
became  the  United  States  of  America.  In  this  first 
charter  the  number  of  the  councillors  was  thirteen, 
—  as  many  as  the  states  which  formed  the  Union. 
How  often  does  Divine  Providence  smite  human 
superstition,  in  making  great  events,  rich  in  happi- 
ness for  mankind,  occur  on  Friday,  and  how  often 
is  the  number  thirteen  honored ! 

Although  the  Cabots  sailed  and  made  landfall 
under  the  Tudors,  yet  these  rulers  were  not  destined 

25 


26        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

to  plant  the  Germanic  race  or  the  English  people 
in  America.  This  honor  was  reserved  for  the  worst 
dynasty  that  disgraced  the  throne  of  Great  Britain. 
On  the  loth  of  April,  1606,  King  James  Stuart  put 
his  signature  to  the  patent  which  chartered  two 
companies,  the  London  and  the  Plymouth,  bestow- 
ing on  them  in  equal  proportions  the  territory  in 
America,  including  adjacent  islands,  lying  between 
the  thirty-fourth  and  forty-fifth  degrees  of  north 
latitude.  For  the  first  five  years  the  people  were  to 
live  together,  holding  common  land,  property,  and 
food. 

China,  gold,  and  spice  were  still  the  lure  of  colo- 
nists. To  show  how  the  minds  of  every  one,  king 
and  people,  were  possessed  with  the  ideas  of  finding 
a  water-route  to  China  and  of  getting  gold  out  of 
the  soil,  it  was  stipulated  that  one-fifth  of  the  pre- 
cious metal  found  should  belong  to  the  king.  All 
waterways  near  the  colony  were  to  be  explored,  in 
order  to  find  a  short  and  easy  way  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  Although  the  charter  was  published  in 
England,  the  instructions  of  the  king  were  put  in  a 
sealed  box  and  with  much  mystery  kept  secret. 
They  were  not  made  public  until  the  colonists 
reached  Virginia. 

One  may  wonder  why  Englishmen  could  be 
tempted  to  leave  home.  Their  little  country  had 
then  only  about  four  millions  of  people,  most  of 


THE  DOMAIN  OF  THE   VIRGIN  QUEEN.  2/ 

whom  lived  in  the  southern  tier  of  counties,  from 
which  a  majority  of  the  settlers  came. 

In  the  year  1606,  however,  times  were  hard  and 
food  was  dear.  It  was  not  dreamed  then  that 
England  could  ever  support  a  population  of  nearly 
forty  millions  of  souls,  which  is  now  done  through 
improved  agriculture  and  commerce.  Furthermore, 
after  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1585  took  up  the  cause 
of  the  Dutch  United  States  and  sent  an  army 
to  help  the  Netherlanders  against  Spain,  there 
had  been  tens  of  thousands  of  English  soldiers, 
with  officers,  contractors,  and  merchants,  in  the 
Low  Countries,  but  now  in  1606  the  war  between 
Holland  and  Spain  was  over.  Already  the  peace 
negotiations,  which  were  to  result  in  a  truce  of 
eleven  years,  were  under  way.  Thousands  of  Brit- 
ish soldiers  were  thus  thrown  out  of  employment. 
When  paid  off  and  discharged  at  home,  they  were 
idlers  waiting  for  a  job.  Not  only  had  the  military 
business,  with  its  contracts  and  trade,  helped  to 
make  England  rich,  but  the  one  hundred  thousand 
people,  mostly  skilled  workmen  or  intelligent  busi- 
ness men,  driven  out  of  the  Belgic  Netherlands  by 
Alva,  had  introduced  those  manufactures  which  were 
to  make  England  rich.  There  was  temporary  dis- 
tress, however,  for  the  supply  of  breadstuffs  had 
fallen  short,  because  the  landowners  were  turning 
their  fields  into  sheep  pastures,  to  raise  wool  in- 


28        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

stead  of  wheat.  On  account  of  this  great  change 
in  agriculture,  from  plough  land  to  meadow,  which 
left  harrow  and  hoe  rusty  for  want  of  use,  a  large 
army  of  farm  laborers  found  themselves  with  nothing 
to  do. 

So  all  eyes  were  turned  to  America  as  a  conti- 
nent where  work  was  not  only  plenty,  but  gold  was 
abundant.  The  common  notion,  as  shown  in  the 
popular  plays  of  the  time  in  the  theatre  and  in  the 
books,  was  that  the  American  rivers  "  ran  down 
their  golden  sands,"  that  nuggets  were  as  plentiful 
as  marbles  and  the  yellow  metal  more  common  than 
red  copper  in  England.  Furthermore,  lively  young 
men  believed  that  among  the  "  diggings,"  there 
was  "  no  more  law  than  conscience  and  not  too 
much  of  either." 

In  our  time,  Klondike  explains  to  us  the  eager- 
ness of  these  seventeenth-century  Englishmen  to 
try  their  fortunes  in  the  American  wilderness. 
Even  the  gold-hunting  Spaniards,  though  they 
chased  phantoms,  seem,  after  all,  not  so  very  differ- 
ent from  the  men  of  to-day,  who,  in  the  hope  of 
wealth  or  for  love  of  adventure  or  "  the  danger's 
self  to  lure  alone,"  will  hazard  health  and  life  even 
in  icy  regions. 

With  so  many  men  out  of  work  and  popula- 
tion pressing  upon  the  food-supply,  Virginia  seemed 
"  the  door  which  God  had  opened  to  England." 


THE  DOMAIN  OF  THE    VIRGIN  QUEEN.  2<) 

The  London  Company  had  no  trouble  in  getting 
young  men  to  go  out  as  "planters,"  and  in  this 
enterprise  of  1606  there  were  neither  wives  nor 
children.  It  was  a  company  of  bachelors,  like  a 
military  battalion.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  five 
colonists,  more  than  half  called  themselves  "  gentle- 
men" ;  that  is,  men  without  any  manual  trade  or 
skilled  employment,  younger  sons  who  had  not  in- 
herited property  and  who  were  not  accustomed  to 
handle  tools  or  do  the  downright  hard  work  neces- 
sary, in  all  first  attempts,  to  make  the  soil  produce 
food.  The  others  were  laborers,  tradesmen,  and 
mechanics,  with  two  surgeons  and  a  chaplain. 

On  the  i  Qth  of  December,  1606,  three  ships 
moored  at  Black  wall,  London,  where  are  now  the 
East  India  docks,  took  on  their  human  cargo.  The 
largest  ship  was  the  Susan  Constant  of  one  hun- 
dred tons,  Captain  Christopher  Newport,  commander 
and  fleet-captain ;  the  God-speed  of  forty  tons,  Cap- 
tain Bartholomew  Gosnold,  commander;  and  the 
Discovery  of  twenty  tons,  Captain  John  Ratcliffe. 
The  total  tonnage  of  these  three  little  ships  was  less 
than  that  of  the  Mayflower  of  later  days  and  of 
many  a  canal  boat  of  to-day.  There  were  thirty- 
nine  men  in  the  crews  and  one  hundred  and  five 
colonists,  of  whom  seventy-one  were  in  the  first, 
fifty-two  in  the  second,  and  twenty  in  the  third  ship 
—  one  hundred  and  forty-four  in  all.  Farewells  and 


3O        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

salutes  being  over,  the  little  squadron  sailed  down 
the  Thames,  but  when  in  the  English  Channel 
contrary  winds  detained  them  until  New  Year's 
Day.  Then  they  moved  westward  across  the  At- 
lantic along  the  old  route  to  the  West  Indies  and 
up  the  coast  into  Chesapeake  Bay.  After  a  nearly 
four  months'  voyage,  with  their  new  home  in  sight, 
they  opened  the  box  of  royal  instructions,  finding 
that  the  councillors  named  were  Wingfield,  Gosnold, 
Smith,  Newport,  Ratcliffe,  Martin,  and  Kendell. 
The  first  three  of  these,  and  probably  others,  had 
seen  military  service  in  the  armies  of  the  Dutch 
republic. 

Three  days  afterwards  they  landed  and  planted  a 
cross,  naming  the  place,  after  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
Cape  Henry.  The  other  cape  at  the  mouth  of 
Chesapeake  Bay,  they  called  Cape  Charles,  after 
the  future  king  of  that  name.  Anchoring  the  next 
day,  they  gratefully  named  the  place  Point  Comfort. 
They  sailed  up  the  river,  in  the  beautiful  time  of 
flowers,  landing  in  May  upon  a  peninsula.  The 
name  of  their  king  was  given  to  the  river  and  to  the 
town  which  they  founded. 

Knowing  that  they  were  surrounded  by  natives 
who  might  be  hostile  and  remembering  how  Ra- 
leigh's colony  had  perished,  they  at  once  began 
building  a  fort  and  laying  out  James  City.  Captain 
John  Smith,  then  twenty-eight  years  of  age  and  a 


THE  DOMAIN  OF  THE    VIRGIN  QUEEN.  31 

man  of  splendid  abilities,  showed  himself  at  once  a 
leader.  China  was  in  fancy  still  near.  Smith  and 
Newport,  with  twenty-three  men,  took  the  small  boat 
and  started  on  a  tour  of  exploration  up  the  river, 
going  beyond  the  site  of  Richmond.  Among  other 
wonderful  things  seen,  was  a  boy,  ten  years  old,  with 
yellow  hair  and  light  skin,  who  may  have  been  a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  Roanoke  settlers.  Indian 
tradition  declared  that  several  of  the  survivors  had 
been  adopted  into  the  tribes.  In  later  days  a  small 
band  of  gray-eyed  savages  were  found  on  the  North 
Carolina  coast,  who  claimed  that  their  ancestors 
were  white  men. 

Smith's  exploring  party  returned  on  the  2yth  of 
May,  and  found  that  the  natives  had  attacked  the 
settlers,  but  had  been  driven  off  by  Wingfield,  who 
had  more  than  once  shown  his  valor  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Two  men  had  been  killed  and  ten  wounded. 
When,  on  the  isth  of  June,  the  fort  was  finished, 
the  chaplain,  Rev.  Robert  Hunt,  held  what  was 
perhaps  the  first  public  worship  in  English  held  in 
America,  and  administered  the  communion.  On 
the  next  day,  Monday,  Captain  Newport  sailed 
homeward  in  the  largest  ship,  Susan  Constant, 
which  was  loaded  with  timber  and  mineral  speci- 
mens, some,  no  doubt,  expected  to  contain  precious 
metal. 

Provisions  had  been  left  for  three   months,  but 


32        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

life  in  the  colony  was  not  very  happy.  Disap- 
pointed in  not  finding  gold,  unused  to  the  hard 
work  which  was  necessary,  surrounded  by  hostile 
savages,  and  divided  among  themselves,  their  many 
troubles  were  further  increased  by  the  malarious 
climate  of  the  region  in  which  they  had  made  their 
settlement. 

Fever  was  epidemic.  Quinine,  not  discovered 
by  the  Jesuit  missionaries  of  Peru  until  1638,  was 
unknown  either  as  medicine,  stimulant,  or  groceries. 
When  autumn  began,  nearly  one-half  of  the  colo- 
nists had  died,  and  many  of  the  remainder  were  ill. 
Hardly  more  than  a  score  of  able-bodied  men  at- 
tended the  sick  and  kept  guard. 

With  cool  weather  there  was  improvement,  espe- 
cially since  they  were  now  able  to  dwell  in  log  houses. 
They  also  built  a  church,  and  the  energetic  Captain 
John  Smith  obtained  supplies  of  grain  from  the 
Indians.  He  was  captured  by  the  savages,  but  was 
released  after  a  few  weeks'  imprisonment  on  promis- 
ing to  give  the  Indians  two  great  guns  and  a  grind- 
stone. Reaching  Jamestown,  he  found  only  forty 
men  living. 

Captain  Newport  returned  from  England  early  in 
January  with  more  settlers,  but  within  a  week  after- 
ward the  fort  and  several  of  the  houses  were 
destroyed  by  fire.  On  a  visit  to  Powhatan,  the 
Indian  chief,  Captains  Newport  and  Smith  obtained 


THE  DOMAIN  OF  THE   VIRGIN  QUEEN.  33 

supplies  of  food  and  exchanged  pledges  of  mutual 
friendship.  An  Indian  lad  was  taken  to  England, 
while  the  English  boy  Thomas  Savage  stayed  with 
Powhatan  and  became  very  useful  afterwards  as  an 
interpreter.  The  ship,  loaded  with  iron  ore,  sassa- 
fras, cedar  posts,  and  walnut  boards,  sailed  homeward 
on  the  loth  of  April. 

Meanwhile  the  colonists  began  to  rebuild  James 
City.  They  cast  their  seed  into  the  ground,  hoping 
for  generous  crops,  but  while  waiting  for  the  corn 
to  grow,  what  with  fever  and  insufficient  food,  about 
half  their  number  died.  To  the  great  joy  of  the 
survivors,  the  Phoenix  arrived  with  fresh  provisions 
and  seventy  settlers.  Sailing  again  on  June  22,  she 
took  back  a  cargo  of  cedar  wood. 

Smith  now  began  in  earnest  the  work  of  explo- 
ration. He  went  up  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  into 
its  tributaries.  He  opened  trade  with  the  natives, 
and  on  a  second  expedition,  toward  the  end  of  July, 
he  reached  the  head  of  the  bay.  Here  he  was 
entertained  by  a  party  of  Iroquois  warriors,  whose 
great  forest  republic  of  five  federated  nations  ex- 
tended from  the  Hudson  River  to  Niagara  Falls. 
The  map  drawn  by  Captain  John  Smith  has  been 
the  basis  of  nearly  all  others  made  since.  It  was 
even  used  as  an  authority  in  1873,  in  settling  the 
boundary  dispute  between  the  states  of  Virginia 
and  Maryland.  When  elected  president  of  the 


34        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

council,  Smith  brought   order   and    discipline  into 
the  settlement. 

Another  reinforcement  of  seventy  colonists  ar- 
rived, among  whom  were  Francis  West,  the  brother 
of  Lord  Delaware;  a  lady,  Mrs.  Thomas  Forest,  and 
her  maid,  Ann  Burras.  Before  the  end  of  the  year 
Ann  was  married  to  John  Laydon,  and  the  first 
wedding  in  Virginia  was  celebrated. 

O  O 

Better  far  than  a  batch  of  the  average  immi- 
grants, was  the  reinforcement  of  some  German  and 
Polish  mechanics,  brought  over  to  manufacture 
glass.  These  Germans  were  the  first  of  a  great 
company  that  have  contributed  powerfully  to  build 
up  the  industry  and  commerce  of  Virginia,  —  "the 
mother  of  states  and  statesmen."  There  still  stands 
on  the  east  side  of  Timber  Neck  Bay,  on  the  north 
side  of  the  York  River,  a  stone  chimney,  with  a 
mighty  fireplace  nearly  eight  feet  wide,  built  by 
these  Germans. 

The  directors  of  the  London  Company  were  ex- 
cessively greedy  for  gold.  When  Captain  New- 
port left  England  again,  they  required  of  him  a 
pledge  to  fulfil  at  least  two  of  four  conditions.  He 
was  not  to  return  without  a  nugget  of  gold,  the 
news  of  the  discovery  of  a  passage  to  China,  one 
of  the  settlers  of  the  lost  company  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  or  freight  in  his  vessel  equal  in  value  to 
the  cost  of  the  expedition,  which  was  two  thousand 


THE  DOMAIN  OF  THE   VIRGIN  QUEEN.  35 

pounds  sterling.  If  he  failed  in  all  of  these  condi- 
tions, then  the  Jamestown  colonists  were  to  be  left 
to  shift  for  themselves.  Perhaps  Lord  Bacon  had 
these  men  in  his  eye,  when  he  wrote  in  1625  :  "The 
principal  thing  that  hath  been  the  destruction  of 
most  plantations  hath  been  the  base  and  hasty 
drawing  of  profit  in  the  first  years." 

The  captain  tried  hard  to  redeem  his  promise. 
Having  brought  costly  presents  to  Powhatan,  he 
wasted  much  time  in  the  ceremony  of  coronation, 
and  strained  every  nerve  to  get  a  valuable  cargo. 
At  that  time  there  was  great  demand  in  England 
for  naval  stores,  but  all  that  could  be  done  was  to 
load  the  ship  with  some  pitch  tar,  glass,  and  iron 
ore.  When  smelted,  the  metal  yielded  twenty  dol- 
lars a  ton,  or,  in  our  values,  about  eighty  dollars. 

Although  two  hundred  colonists  were  in  James- 
town, yet  almost  the  only  man  of  vigor  was  Smith, 
who  soon  became  the  head  of  the  government.  He 
cheered  the  industrious,  and  the  lazy  soon  found 
that  they  must  work  or  starve.  Colonial  matters 
improved  under  his  discipline,  but  for  some  reason, 
now  unknown,  he  had  to  return  to  England.  He 
never  again  visited  the  colony. 

Everything  seemed  to  go  to  pieces  after  Smith 
left.  Starvation  and  disease  carried  off  all  but 
about  threescore  men.  Some  of  these  went  to  live 
among  the  Indians,  while  another  party  began  a 


36         THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

settlement  some  miles  from  the  fort.  When  a  new 
ship  with  reinforcements  came  in,  the  entire  com- 
pany, old  and  new,  resolved  to  return  to  England. 
They  were  actually  on  the  ships,  with  their  faces 
set  homewards,  when  they  were  met  by  a  fleet  of 
nine  vessels  from  England,  containing  nearly  five 
hundred  colonists  including  a  considerable  number 
of  old  veterans  who  had  fought  in  the  Dutch  re- 
public. Once  more  all  rallied  to  the  work  of  build- 
ing up  a  new  state.  Perseverance  conquered. 


CHAPTER    III. 

TOBACCO,    BRIDES,    AND    BLACK    SERVANTS. 

THE  London  Company,  in  the  hope  of  improv- 
ing Virginian  affairs,  had  applied  for  a  new 
charter  of  privileges,  which  greatly  increased  the 
area  of  the  colony.  This  was  granted  on  the 
23d  of  May,  1609,  and  the  expedition  of  nine  ves- 
sels, as  we  have  seen,  sailed  from  Plymouth  on  the 
ist  of  June. 

The  discipline  now  put  in  force  in  the  settlement 
was  borrowed  from  that  of  the  model  army  organ- 
ized by  Prince  Maurice  in  the  Dutch  republic,  and 
Sir  Thomas  Dale,  the  new  governor,  made  it  work 
admirably.  The  land  was  divided,  and  no  more 
rations  were  given  out  from  the  public  storehouse. 
The  church  edifice  was  repaired  and  the  fortifica- 
tions were  improved.  A  new  settlement  was  planned 
on  Varina  Neck  at  the  bend  in  the  James  River, 
called  Farrar's  Island.  The  isthmus  of  this  penin- 
sula was  called  "  Dutch  Gap,"  after  the  glass-makers 
who  set  up  their  furnaces  here  in  1608.  Most 
Englishmen  then  made,  and  uneducated  people  now 
make,  no  distinction  between  the  Dutch  and  the 

37 


38        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Germans,  who  are  politically  different  people,  each 
with  a  language  of  its  own.  Over  two  hundred 
years  later,  this  site  was  made  famous  by  a  canal 
dug  under  General  Butler's  orders  and  finished  by 
the  United  States  government  in  1873. 

A  new  spirit  now  animated  the  colony.  Men 
worked  cheerfully  and  gladly.  Gardens  for  hemp, 
flax,  and  other  seeds  were  laid  out.  Under  the 
new  code  of  Dutch  laws,  "  divine,  moral,  and  mar- 
tial," order  and  prosperity  ruled  where  disorder 
and  shiftlessness  had  been.  Soon  the  colony  could 
be  called,  after  a  word  beloved  by  Americans,  a 
success. 

By  June,  1611,  when  Sir  Thomas  Gates  arrived, 
there  were  seven  hundred  settlers,  among  whom 
were  women  and  children,  with  plenty  of  provi- 
sions besides  one  hundred  cows  and  other  cattle. 
Gates  sent  Dale  in  September  to  found  the  town 
of  Henrico,  and  in  December  another  called  Ber- 
muda. This  town  of  "  Bermuda  Hundred  "  shows 
how  the  old  Germanic  division  of  the  people  into 
hundreds  was  early  introduced  into  English  Amer- 
ica. The  old  home  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was  in 
the  "  Basset-Law  Hundred  "  of  Nottingham.  The 

O 

"hundred"  still  serves  in  some  states  as  a  voting- 

o 

district. 

The  debt  of  our  English  fathers  to  the  Indian 
is  very  great,  and  to  the  negro  even  greater.  Both 


"JOHN  ROLFE  MARRIED  POCAHONTAS,  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  POWHATAN." 


TOBACCO,  BRIDES,  AND  BLACK  SERVANTS.  39 

aided  the  white  man  to  make  America.  The 
Indians,  as  we  shall  see,  taught  the  northern  colo- 
nists culture  of  corn,  woodcraft,  natural  resources 
of  food,  use  of  the  moccasin,  snowshoe,  birch- 
bark  canoe,  wampum,  and  the  virtues  of  tobacco. 
Where  the  Indian  gave  the  results  of  experience, 
the  negro  gave  his  toil.  The  year  1612  was  made 
famous  in  Virginia  by  the  systematic  culture  of 
this  native  American  plant,  discovered  by  the  red 
and  cultivated  by  the  black  man. 

John  Rolfe  was  the  man  who  first  demonstrated 
the  value  of  the  weed  and  opened  a  boundless 
field  for  slave  labor.  He  also  married  Pocahontas, 
the  daughter  of  Powhatan,  and  thus  gained  the 
friendship  of  the  Indians.  The  couple  were  mar- 
ried on  the  5th  of  April,  1614,  by  Rev.  Alexander 
Whitaker.  This  brought  to  the  colony  the  good 
will  of  the  powerful  Indian  chief,  and  soon  after 
a  treaty  was  made  with  the  Chickahominy  tribe. 

These  events  practically  decided  the  future  of 
the  colony  and  made  its  future  sure.  John  Rolfe, 
Pocahontas,  and  tobacco  represent  those  three 
elements,  —  intelligent  industry,  friendship  with 
neighbors,  and  a  sure  income  by  which  permanent 
success  was  won.  By  the  steady  export  of  tobacco, 
commerce  was  opened  with  Europe;  for  Virginia 
had  a  commodity  always  in  demand  to  pay  for 
needed  supplies.  Through  Pocahontas,  all  present 


4O        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

danger  from  the  Indians  was  removed.  Tobacco 
also  furnished  a  substitute  for  money  and  encour- 
aged the  colonists  to  clear  the  land  and  begin 
agriculture,  while  it  attracted  new  colonists  from 
Europe.  In  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  the  lead- 
ing men  were  "  planters,"  and  the  common  English 
word  for  a  colony  was  "  plantation,"  as  Lord 
Bacon's  essay,  written  in  1625,  shows.  Wisely  he 
wrote :  "  Planting  of  countries  is  like  planting  of 
woods ;  for  you  must  make  account  to  lose  almost 
twenty  years'  profit,  and  expect  your  recompense  in 
the  end." 

The  culture  of  tobacco  also  influenced  Virginia's 
future  history.  It  made  a  demand  for  labor  which 
was  unfortunately  satisfied  by  the  importation  of 
slaves.  It  scattered  population  by  preventing  its 
concentration  in  towns,  and  thus  hindered  that 
close  union  of  the  people  which,  in  the  Eastern 
and  the  Middle  colonies,  so  powerfully  promoted 
education  and  moulded  the  character  of  the  people. 
It  was  impossible  to  have  in  Virginia  the  system  of 
schools,  with  the  newspaper  and  the  printing  press, 
as  in  Pennsylvania,  or  town  communities  as  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, for  example.  Only  a  few  towns  were 
founded.  The  population,  scattered  over  a  large 
territory,  was  composed  of  rich  owners  of  planta- 
tions who,  as  the  soil  was  quickly  exhausted  by 
tobacco  under  slave  labor,  added  land  to  land  and 


TOBACCO,   BRIDES,  AND  BLACK  SERVANTS.  41 

pushed  farther  and  farther  apart  from  each  other ; 
while  at  the  same  time  those  who  owned  no  land 
were  forced  into  a  low  social  condition  and  became 
"poor  white  trash,"  —  now  in  freedom's  day  so  no 
longer.  Tobacco  took  the  place  of  money.  The 
officers  of  the  government  and  the  ministers  of 
religion  were  paid  and  subscriptions  made  in  this 
commodity.  To  help  build  a  house  of  worship  in 
Alexandria,  Washington  subscribed,  as  I  have  seen 
on  the  church  books,  instead  of  pounds  sterling,  a 
certain  number  of  pounds  of  tobacco. 

Pocahontas  visited  England  with  her  husband, 
but  died  there  in  1617,  leaving  a  son  from  whom 
three  of  the  first  families  of  Virginia  trace  their 
descent.  Captain  John  Smith  told  many  wonder- 
ful and  romantic  stories,  mostly  about  ladies  whom 
he  had  met  and  who  had  favored  him ;  but  it  was 
not  until  Pocahontas  reached  England  that  he  let 
any  one  know  of  her  rescue  of  him  in  1607  from 
the  war-club  of  Powhatan. 

The  year  1619  was  also  a  notable  one  on  account 
of  the  beginning  of  three  great  institutions  in  the 
colony,  —  representative  government,  homes,  and 
slavery.  Sir  George  Yeardley  arrived  on  the  igth 
of  April,  and  the  eleven  towns  or  boroughs  —  for 
there  were  no  counties  yet  —  sent  representatives 
who  met  in  the  chancel  of  the  church  building  at 
Jamestown  on  July  30.  This  was  the  first  popu- 


42         THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

lar  legislature  on  the  continent  of  America.  At 
this  period  only  two  European  states  gave  the  peo- 
ple a  share  in  government.  They  were  Great 
Britain  and  the  Dutch  republic. 

Men  make  a  camp,  but  women  a  home.  White 
women  in  the  colony,  thus  far,  had  been  curiosities. 
Hundreds  of  bachelors  were  eager  for  brides  and 
they  stood  waiting  on  the  wharf,  with  their  cured 
tobacco  already  in  their  hands,  when  a  ship  con- 
taining ninety  young  women  hove  in  sight.  The 
maidens  were  quickly  selected  and  made  wives. 
Their  passage  was  paid  for  by  the  tobacco.  There 
was  more  marrying  within  those  twenty-four  hours 
than  during  any  one  week  after  the  year  1619.  It 
was  a  red-letter  day  for  the  parson.  These  new 
daughters  of  Virginia  seemed  to  like  the  country 
and  their  husbands  so  well,  that  they  wrote  home 
persuading  more  rosy-cheeked  English  girls  to  come 
over  and  to  help  settle  the  new  country.  Promis- 
ing damsels  were  not  the  only  white  persons  to 
arrive  this  year,  for  the  company  sent  over  in 
1619  numbered  nearly  twelve  hundred  new  settlers. 
Among  them  were  boys  and  girls  picked  up  in  the 
streets  of  London.  These  were  bound  out  as  ap- 
prentices of  the  planters  until  they  should  reach 
their  majority.  There  were  also  two  hundred  dis- 
orderly persons  or  convicts  transported  to  be  em- 
ployed as  servants,  and  thus  given  a  new  chance  of 
improvement. 


TOBACCO,  BRIDES,  AND  BLACK  SERVANTS.  43 

Toward  the  end  of  summer  of  the  same  year,  the 
sons  of  Africa  appeared  as  makers  of  America. 
There  was  not  much  romance  in  the  method  of 
their  coming.  Yet  they  had  before  them,  or  soon 
learned  of,  the  example  of  Joseph  sold  as  a  slave  by 
his  brethren.  Indeed,  the  black  man  in  America 
soon  appreciated  the  pathos  and  meaning  of  many 
things  in  the  Bible,  such  as  the  year  of  jubilee,  for 
which  their  white  owners  cared  little.  A  ship  ar- 
rived in  want  of  provisions  and  traded  off  twenty 
African  slaves  for  food.  The  wickedness  of  traffic 
in  human  bodies  had  not  yet  been  seen  clearly  by 
Christian  people.  From  all  the  nations  of  maritime 
or  western  Europe,  probably  without  exception, 
went  forth  slave-catchers  or  slave-traders. 

Not  many  black  bondsmen  came  during  the  first 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  but  in  time  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery  spread  over  all  the  thirteen  colonies. 
These  negroes  were  not  the  first  brought  to  the 
new  continent,  for  there  were  already  thousands  in 
the  West  Indies  laboring  for  the  Spaniards.  The 
black  man  Estevanico  had  already  been  with  the 
explorers  in  Texas  and  New  Mexico.  Yet  from 
these  first  negro  bondsmen  and  those  who  were  im- 
ported until  1808,  usually  called  in  the  South  "ser- 
vants" and  "slaves"  in  the  North,  the  eight  millions 
of  our  black  fellow-citizens  in  the  United  States 
are  descended. 


44        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Now  that  it  is  all  over  among  us,  let  us  see  what 
slavery  is.  In  its  origin,  slavery  is  the  sign  of  civ- 
ilization. In  the  early  wars  of  the  human  race, 
captives  were  murdered.  As  men  became  more 
civilized,  instead  of  killing  their  captured  enemies, 
they  made  them  work.  The  change  from  massacre 
to  slavery  arose  probably  less  from  the  idea  of 
mercy  than  of  commercial  benefit ;  for  as  men  be- 
came less  mere  fighters,  more  skilful  and  produc- 
tive, they  saw  the  advantage  of  making  bondmen 
work  for  them.  In  the  early  ages  slavery  was  a 
benefit  to  savages,  who  are  naturally  lazy.  Com- 
pelled to  toil,  their  work  became  an  element  of 
progress.  Slavery  existed  among  all  races  that 
have  records,  but  the  Hebrews  had  laws  which 
mitigated  the  rigors  of  bondage ;  for  their  slaves  be- 
came free  at  the  end  of  seven  years,  and  in  the  year 
of  jubilee  all  slaves  were  emancipated.  No  ancient 
book  can  compare  with  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
amount  and  spirit  of  its  language  about  labor  and 
wages,  freedom  and  slavery.  The  preamble  to  the 
Ten  Commandments  is  the  record  of  a  Divine 
Emancipation  Proclamation.  Jehovah  is  the  De- 
liverer. The  whole  burden  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  is  that  of  deliverance  and  release. 
John  Brown's  Bible  in  Charlestown,  which  I  have 
looked  at,  and  which  he  marked  during  many  years 
of  study,  is  powerfully  impressive  on  this  theme. 


TOBACCO,   BRIDES,   AND  BLACK  SERVANTS.  45 

Under  the  Roman  empire,  which  was  a  great 
school  of  civilization  to  our  barbaric  ancestors,  the 
coloni  or  colonists  on  the  landed  estates  were 
adscript*  gleb&,  or  enrolled  with  the  soil  on  which 
they  lived.  They  were  personally  free,  but  could 
not  of  their  own  will  leave  the  lands  which  they 
tilled.  They  were  like  the  inaka  of  Old  Japan. 
In  the  course  of  time  the  actual  slaves  who  had 
been  prisoners  of  war,  or  seized  to  be  made  bond- 
men, approached  the  condition  of  the  coloni.  When 
our  Germanic  ancestors  came  into  contact  with  the 
Roman  civilization,  their  own  system  was  gradually 
modified,  so  that  instead  of  slavery  came  the  serf- 
dom of  the  middle  ages.  While  the  feudal  system 
lasted,  the  condition  of  most  people  in  Europe  was 
that  of  serfs,  and  this  social  system  was  not  broken 
up  until  after  the  Crusades.  These  helped  power- 
fully to  begin  the  work  of  freedom  which  commerce 
and  industry,  under  Christian  forms,  completed;  so 
that  in  modern  times  the  European  people  have 
been  free.  One  late  exception  was  in  Russia,  where 
fifty  millions  of  people  were  little  more  than  beasts 
of  burden,  until  their  emancipation  by  the  Czar 
Alexander  II.  in  1861.  Then  Russian  serfs  were 
given  the  opportunity  to  become  thinking  and 
reasoning  men. 

So  we  see  that  the  effect  of  changing  two  classes 
of  men,  the  coloni  and  the  slaves,  was  to  lower  the 


46        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

position  of  the  old  colonus  while  it  raised  that  of  the 
agricultural  laborer  as  a  whole,  thus  preparing  for 
modern  society  through  the  successive  steps  of  serf- 
dom, feudalism,  the  Crusades,  modern  commerce 
and  industry,  constitutional  governments  and  re- 
publics, where  all  are  perfectly  free. 

Although  the  Germanic  tribes,  including'  the 
Anglo-Saxons,  held  their  captives  and  conquered 
men  in  bondage,  yet  the  word  "  slave  "  did  not  come 
into  the  English  language  until  very  late.  Though 
common  in  Shakespeare,  it  is  hardly  known  in  the 
English  Bible,  occurring  only  twice.  The  term  did 
not  arise  in  Europe  until  about  the  ninth  century, 
when  Slavic  men  or  persons  of  the  Slavonian  race 
were  captured  by  our  Germanic  ancestors.  Then 
the  national  appellation  of  "  Slaves  "  was  degraded, 
by  chance  or  malice,  from  its  original  signification 
of  "  glory  "  into  that  of  servitude.  The  Russian 
word  slava,  which  in  our  language  has  come  to 
mean  a  slave,  with  all  its  associations  of  contempt 
and  woe,  means  renown  or  fame.  Thus,  what  is 
one  man's  meat  is  another  man's  poison.  In  Asia 
the  same  word  which  in  the  language  on  one  side 
of  the  mountains  may  mean  a  god,  on  the  other  may 
mean  a  devil.  One  civilization,  the  Christian,  when 
perfected  over  all  the  world,  will  change  all  this. 

In  Old  Virginia  a  planter  or  house-master  always 
spoke  of  his  negroes  as  "servants,"  just  as  did  the 


TOBACCO,  BRIDES,  AND  BLACK  SERVANTS.  47 

Bible.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
speaks  of  "persons  held  to  service  or  labor,"  but 
not  of  "  slaves."  It  is  a  potent  element  in  moral 
progress,  when  things  are  called  by  their  right 
names  and  the  noble  word  "  servant "  is  cleansed 
and  reserved  for  men  free  in  body  as  well  as  soul. 
Despite  the  evils  of  slavery,  it  was  under  this 
system  that  the  Southern  people  did  a  noble  work 
in  educating  the  negro  out  of  African  savagery  and 
paganism  into  the  rudiments  of  Christianity  and 
civilization. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LIVELY    POLITICS    IN    THE    OLD    DOMINION. 

IN  July,  1620,  when  the  Pilgrims  in  Leyden  were 
getting  ready  to  sail  westward,  there  were  four 
thousand  persons  in  Virginia,  and  during  the  year 
forty  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  were  shipped  to 
England  and  Holland.  More  women  came  over  as 
brides.  A  windmill  was  built.  Iron  works  were 
established  and  schools  started.  Translations  of 
Ovid  and  Virgil  were  made  by  George  Sandys  and 
published  in  1626.  This  scholar  was  treasurer  of 
the  colony  and  brother  of  that  Sir  Edwin  Sandys, 
the  friend  of  the  Pilgrims  and  a  lover  of  liberty,  who 
was  active  in  securing  a  new  constitution  for  the 
colony,  which  confirmed  and  enlarged  the  powers  of 
government  by  the  people.  This  famous  ordinance 
furnished  the  model  of  every  subsequent  provincial 
form  of  government  in  the  Anglo-American  colonies. 
Twenty-one  vessels  came  over  during  the  year 
1621,  bringing  thirteen  hundred  men,  women,  and 
children.  Though  most  of  the  immigrants  were 
English  people,  yet  among  them  were  Scottish, 
Welsh,  Irish,  Dutch,  Germans,  and  Poles,  and  these 


LIVELY  POLITICS  IN    THE    OLD   DOMINION.  49 

were  followed  later  by  people  of  other  nationalities. 
The  Virginians,  like  New  Yorkers,  Yankees,  and 
Western  people,  are  of  varied  ancestry,  though  domi- 
nated, just  as  our  whole  country  is,  by  English  ideas, 
traditions,  and  language ;  for  the  best "  English  "  ideas 
are  an  inheritance  from  the  whole  Teutonic  race. 

The  phrase  "Old  Virginia"  now  came  into  use, 
because  the  Plymouth  men  made  a  New  Virginia 
in  the  North,  and  later  the  popular  term  was  "  the 
Old  Dominion,"  an  honor  which  Canada  both  offi- 
cially and  familiarly,  though  without  the  adjective, 
still  enjoys. 

The  subsequent  history  of  this  noble  colony  was 
influenced  by  the  fortunes  and  misfortunes  of  the 
English  people.  Their  internal  experiences  were 
much  like  those  of  other  builders  of  commonwealths 
along  the  Atlantic  coast.  They  suffered  from  Ind- 
ian wars  and  from  a  variety  of  troubles,  climatic, 
social,  economic,  and  political,  both  within  and  with- 
out, but  the  steadiness  and  great  value  of  the 
tobacco  crop,  its  easy  cultivation  and  quick  returns, 
made  wealth  of  rapid  growth.  This  single  plant, 
one  of  the  many  gifts  of  the  red  man  to  American 
civilization,  gave  to  Virginia  the  possibility  of  being 
the  largest  and  richest  of  the  thirteen  colonies.  In 
the  Revolution,  Virginia  led  all  in  population,  hav- 
ing nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  inhabitants. 

The  early  representative  government  was  partially 


5<D        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

suppressed  by  the  king,  who,  in  1624,  took  away 
the  company's  charter  and  made  Virginia  a  royal 
province.  Sir  William  Berkeley,  the  governor  in 
1642,  did  not  believe  in  any  education  for  the 
common  people,  and  was  an  almost  fanatical  adher- 
ent to  the  political  church  of  England.  Nevertheless, 
the  Assembly  was  continued  and  the  people  made 
most  of  their  own  laws.  When  King  Charles  I. 
lost  his  head  and  Cromwell  and  the  Commonwealth 
arose,  many  of  the  Cavaliers  left  England  and  emi- 
grated to  Virginia.  Not  a  few  of  these  were  men 
of  character,  influence,  and  ability,  who  became 
founders  of  illustrious  families  of  Virginia  and 
ancestors  of  leading  American  statesmen. 

When  the  Commonwealth  was  set  up,  the  Vir- 
ginians gave  allegiance  to  the  Protector,  and  in  the 
name  of  this  government  North  Carolina  was  ex- 
plored and  taken  possession  of.  Under  Cromwell's 
rule  the  Virginia  people  were  very  prosperous,  but 
as  soon  as  Charles  II.  was  on  the  throne  again  Sir 
William  Berkeley  became  governor  once  more. 
Representative  government  was  suppressed  in 
Virginia,  and  the  royal  governor  and  men  of  his 
mind  kept  out  every  sort  of  religion  except  that  of 
which  the  king  approved.  Yet  although  the 
Virginians  had  made  a  great  present  of  nearly  fifty 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  to  the  new  king,  and 
even  celebrated  the  date  of  his  restoration,  May  29, 


LIVELY  POLITICS  IN   THE    OLD  DOMINION.  51 

as  a  holy  day,  they  found  that  the  second  Charles 
Stuart  was  quite  ready  to  destroy  the  colony  if  it 
were  his  whim  to  do  so. 

Parliament  had  enacted  certain  navigation  laws, 
in  the  nature  of  a  protective  tariff,  which  were 
aimed  at  the  Dutch,  then  the  common  carriers  of 
Europe's  trade  by  water.  The  idea  was  to  ruin  the 
commerce  of  the  republic  as  far  as  possible,  and 
thus  get  the  control  of  the  seas.  Everything  brought 
to  Great  Britain  or  sent  from  the  colonies,  or  any 
foreign  goods  purchased,  must  be  carried  in  English 
vessels.  In  spite  of  the  protest  of  the  governor  and 
planters  of  Virginia,  King  Charles  enforced  these 
laws  and  even  made  them  more  stringent.  The 
tobacco  trade,  then  amounting  to  about  sixty 
million  dollars  a  year,  was  thus  nearly  ruined ;  for 
the  planters  could  get  only  the  price  which  English 
merchants  chose  to  give  and  were  compelled  to  buy 
woven  stuffs,  manufactures,  and  sugar  at  whatever 
cost  was  fixed  in  London.  Still  worse,  the  un- 
scrupulous and  perfidious  king  gave  away  nearly 
the  whole  of  Virginia  to  two  of  his  court  favorites, 
so  that  the  planters  were  not  only  without  title  to 
their  lands,  but  had  no  votes  or  representation.  The 
state  of  affairs,  aggravated  by  the  hostile  Indians, 
became  so  distressful  that  the  troubles  culminated 
in  what  is  known  as  "  Bacon's  Rebellion,"  and  civil 
war  broke  out. 


52        THE   ROMANCE    OF  A  At  ERIC  AN   COLONIZATION. 

Nathaniel  Bacon,  Jr.,  who  had  been  but  a  short 
time  in  the  colony,  was  a  young  lawyer,  rich,  elo- 
quent, popular,  and  brave.  The  people  rallied 
round  him,  electing  a  new  assembly  and  making 
Bacon  one  of  their  representatives.  The  reform 
measures  were  called  "  Bacon's  laws."  Governor 
Berkeley  resisted,  dissolved  the  council,  addressed 
the  king,  and  proclaimed  Bacon  a  traitor.  Bacon 
marched  on  Jamestown  to  the  governor's  quarters. 
It  is  said  that  he  imitated  the  trick  played  at  the 
siege  of  Maastricht  by  the  Spanish  soldiers,  who 
bucklered  female  captives  in  front  of  them  when 
they  attacked  the  city.  Seizing  some  of  the  wives 
of  Berkeley's  friends,  Bacon  placed  them  in  front  of 
his  troops,  so  that  the  governor's  forces  would  not 
fire  upon  the  besiegers,  and  Berkeley  evacuated  the 
city.  With  the  "  white-apron  brigade,"  Bacon  won 
the  victory,  and  in  the  morning  his  forces  burned 
Jamestown  to  the  ground. 

Henceforth  this  site  of  the  first  permanent  Eng- 
lish settlement  in  America  was  given  up  to  weeds 
and  wild  animals.  In  1867,  when  I  visited  the 
ruins,  the  chief  feature  seemed  to  be  a  chimney, 
some  crumbling  walls,  and  fragments  of  buildings, 
but  little  else  to  suggest  the  past.  The  peninsula 
has  become  an  island,  and  under  the  restoring  care 
of  the  Virginia  chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution,  Jamestown  has  been  made  a  clean  and 


LIVELY  POLITICS  IN  THE    OLD  DOMINION.  53 

pleasant  place  for  the  rambles  of  the  tourist  and 
historical  student. 

Bacon  soon  died  from  disease  brought  on  by  ex- 
posure. His  followers  were  scattered  and  twenty- 
three  of  them  put  to  death.  Berkeley  proved  himself 
a  butcher,  but  Bacon  the  statesman  was  not  for- 
gotten ;  for  many  of  his  laws,  though  repealed, 
were  reenacted,  and  Berkeley  was  recalled  by  the 
king.  After  this,  Lord  Culpepper  was  made  gov- 
ernor for  life  and  an  era  of  great  prosperity  began, 
in  which  the  habits  of  the  planters  were  marked  by 
personal  indulgence  and  ostentatious  expenditure. 
Virginia  hospitality  became  a  proverb. 

Though  convicts  and  persons  of  disreputable 
character  had  come  into  the  colony,  they  were  in 
the  minority,  and  the  dangers  from  this  class  of 
people  were  guarded  against  by  severe  laws.  The 
worst  met  their  natural  fate  in  punishment,  while 
the  better  became  prosperous  and  made  good  citi- 
zens ;  so  that  in  time  a  society  distinguished  for  its 
refinement,  executive  ability,  and  generous  hospi- 
tality grew  up  in  the  "  ancient  dominion."  The 
Cavalier  theory  of  life  is  not  that  of  the  Puritan. 
The  latter  excels  in  self-reliance,  endurance,  cour- 
age, and  perseverance ;  the  latter  in  love,  charity, 
gratitude,  and  friendship.  The  Puritan  cared  little 
for  the  graces  and  decorations  of  life,  but  the  Cava- 
lier cultivated  these  with  care.  There  were  virtues 


54        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

and  vices  among  each,  and  neither  lived  up  fully  to 
his  ideals.  A  description  of  one  by  the  other  was 
usually  a  caricature.  In  the  old  country  these  two 
sorts  of  men  were  not  able  to  live  peaceably  to- 
gether, until  after  their  civil  war  and  the  folly  of  the 
Stuart  kings.  It  seems  to  have  been  only  through 
God's  mercy  that  they  were  not  consumed  one  of 
the  other  in  America.  Happily,  between  Puritan 
New  England  and  Cavalier  Virginia,  Divine  Provi- 
dence placed  the  tolerant  Dutchmen  and  Quakers. 
Though  always  strongly  royalist  in  sentiment, 
Virginia  was  later  powerfully  modified  in  spirit  and 
procedure  by  a  tremendous  infusion  of  Scottish, 
Irish,  German,  and  Swiss  elements.  These  brought 
in  more  democratic  ideas,  preferring  a  form  of  life 
less  infected  with  the  semi-feudal  and  state-church 
notions  of  the  great  planters,  which  had  been  im- 
ported from  Europe.  One  hundred  years  after 
Bacon's  laws  had  been  first  enacted,  the  resolution 
in  the  Continental  Congress  to  declare  the  colonies 
free  and  independent  states  came  from  Virginia. 
The  decided  difference  between  aristocracy  and 
democracy,  the  eastern  and  the  western  portions, 
tide-water  and  mountainous  Virginia,  led  in  1861 
to  the  creation  of  the  new  state  of  West  Virginia. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND. 

WE  must  now  look  to  that  little  country  on  the 
east  side  of  the  North  Sea  which,  after  Eng- 
land, has  had  more  to  do  with  the  making  of  our 
nation  and  the  shaping  of  American  political  history 
than  any  other. 

Holland  and  Friesland  formed  part  of  the  ancient 
home  of  the  nations  that  helped  to  form  the  very 
much  mixed  English  people.  Here  in  ancient 
times  dwelt  the  Angles,  Saxons,  Frisians,  and  other 
tribes  who  crossed  over  into  Great  Britain.  Later 
from  the  Netherlands  came  most  of  the  skilled 
artisans,  inventors,  and  financiers,  who  changed 
England  from  an  agricultural  and  wool-raising 
country  to  one  leading  the  world  in  commerce  and 
manufactures.  It  was  the  federal  union  of  the 
seven  states  of  the  Dutch  republic,  with  their 
written  constitution  and  history  much  like  our  own, 
that,  even  more  than  England,  gave  the  United 
States  of  America  their  political  precedents.  In- 
stead of  there  being  a  single  state  made  up  of  many 

55 


56        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

countries,  and  governed  by  a  king,  like  England, 
there  were  many  states,  each  one  having  its  own 
government,  laws,  and  customs,  though  the  people 
all  spoke  one  language.  These  Dutch  states,  at  first 
separate,  united  together,  and  in  July,  1581,  de- 
clared themselves  independent,  for  much  the  same 
reasons  as  those  which  impelled  the  American  colo- 
nies to  imitate  their  example. 

The  Dutch  believed  in  "  no  taxation  without 
consent,"  and  in  worshipping  God  as  it  suited  them, 
without  any  dictation  from  kings  or  nobles,  or 
church  lords.  They  were  perfectly  willing  to  pay 
for  good  government,  and  cheerfully  bore  the  heavi- 
est taxes  during  their  eighty  years'  war  for  freedom 
from  Spain,  but  they  believed  that  those  who  were 
to  pay  the  taxes  ought  first  to  vote  them.  Kings, 
they  thought,  were  servants,  not  masters.  Their  flag 
was  red,  white,  and  blue,  one  stripe  for  each  of  the 
states.  Their  Congress  consisted  of  a  house  of  dep- 
uties, in  which  the  nobles  and  the  cities  were  repre- 
sented, and  each  state  had  one  vote.  This  body, 
which  represented  the  states  in  particular,  was  called 
a  States-General.  As  in  the  case  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  which  was  so  largely  modelled  on  the 
Dutch  original,  the  members  were  changed  every 
two  years.  The  national  capital,  The  Hague,  like 
the  District  of  Columbia  which  is  copied  from  it, 
had  no  vote. 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  57 

Their  long  war  of  eighty  years  for  independence, 
begun  in  1568  by  the  invasion  of  the  Spanish  army 
under  the  Duke  of  Alva,  was  the  training  school  of 
all  the  English  soldiers  who  were  the  military 
directors  of  the  colonies  in  America.  The  list  is 
a  very  long  one.  It  includes  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
Captain  John  Smith,  Argall,  and  Wingfield  of  Vir- 
ginia ;  Myles  Standish,  Governor  Dudley,  and 
others  of  Massachusetts ;  Lyon  Gardiner  and  John 
Mason  of  Connecticut;  Peter  Stuyvesant  and  Jacob 
Leisler  of  New  York;  many  noted  Indian  fighters 
and  colonial  heroes,  besides  several  hundreds,  pos- 
sibly thousands,  of  men  who  as  veteran  private 
soldiers  or  non-commissioned  officers  emigrated  to 
the  various  colonies.  The  Dutch  model  republican 
army,  under  the  stadholder  Maurice,  was  the  won- 
der of  Europe.  The  rules  which  governed  it,  when 
adopted  by  Governor  Dale  in  Virginia,  made  colo- 
nization there  a  success.  The  Dutch  United  States 
set  the  example  of  religious  tolerance  to  the  Ameri- 
can republic.  Holland  was  the  shelter  land  for  the 
persecuted  Jews,  the  Huguenots,  the  Walloons  or 
French-speaking  Netherlanders,  and  the  oppressed 
of  every  land.  This  was  long  before  the  "  Pilgrim 
Fathers  "  arrived  in  Leyden.  There  was  no  abso- 
lute liberty  anywhere  in  Europe  in  the  early  seven- 
teenth century,  but  there  was  more  freedom  in  the 
Dutch  republic  than  anywhere  else.  Besides  the 


58        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

city  charters  and  written  constitutions,  the  press  was 
free,  as  it  was  not  in  England. 

There  were  Dutch  free  schools,  sustained  by 
public  taxation,  democratic  rule  in  the  church,  and 
popular  power  in  the  state.  Here  we  must  look  to 
find  the  origin  of  many  things  which  are  distinc- 
tively American,  besides  of  much  of  what  is  best  in 
all  the  English-speaking  countries.  Here,  not  only 
the  first  English  Bibles,  but  most  of  the  books  and 
tracts  of  the  free  churchmen,  were  printed.  These 
writings  in  the  interests  of  religion  divorced  from 
politics,  and  of  a  church  with  which  politicians  could 
not  meddle,  helped  powerfully  to  bring  about  the 
Commonwealth,  the  popular  British  Parliament,  and 
the  modern  free  churches  in  countries  where  the 
speech  is  English.  In  a  word,  the  Dutch  republic 
was  just  the  kind  of  a  country  well  fitted  to  send 
out  successful  colonists  and  to  plant  the  seed  of  new 
states.  It  has  been  of  the  greatest  blessing  to  our 
country  that  the  founders  of  Massachusetts,  Con- 
necticut, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and 
possibly  those  of  other  states  received  a  good  part 
of  their  education  in  the  Dutch  republic. 

After  Henry  Hudson's  discovery  of  the  coast-line 
of  what  is  now  the  Middle  states,  and  his  entrance 
and  exploration  of  the  great  river  from  Sandy  Hook 
to  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk,  there  was  a 
great  desire  among  the  Dutch  merchants  to  traffic 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  59 

with  the  Indians  in  New  Netherland.  Parties  of 
fur-traders  sailed  up  the  river  called  Mauritius, 
named  after  Maurice,  the  Dutch  stadtholder  and 
commander  of  the  Union  armies.  In  one  family  of 
refugees  from  Valenciennes,  in  1614,  Jean  Vigne, 
the  first  white  child  of  New  Netherland,  was  born. 
Yet  there  was  no  permanent  settlement ;  for  during 
the  Truce  or  Peace,  from  1609  to  1621,  no  colonies 
could  be  planted.  Even  when  opportunity  offered, 
there  was  no  special  need  or  desire  of  colonization ; 
for  Holland  and  the  other  six  states  of  the  Union 
were  very  prosperous.  Everybody  had  employment, 
there  was  plenty  of  business,  and  there  seemed  no 
reason  *why  emigrants  should  leave  the  mother 
country.  The  Dutch  were  not  Pilgrims  or  "  Dis- 
senters," nor  were  they  dissatisfied  with  their  gov- 
ernment or  the  state 'church.  Their  freedom  had 
been  practically  won  and  their  faith  was  established. 
Nevertheless,  in  anticipation  of  the  end  of  the 
Truce  in  1621,  the  directors  of  the  Netherland 
Trading  Company  prepared  to  aid  any  volunteers 
who  would  settle  the  new  Dutch  province.  These 
were  not  lacking;  for  there  were  Walloon  before 
there  were  English  "  Pilgrim  Fathers."  When  the 
Spanish  Duke  of  Alva  in  1567  invaded  that  part  of 
Netherlands  which  is  now  Belgium,  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Walloons,  or  French-speaking  people  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  fled  for  refuge  into  Holland. 


60        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Many  of  them  lived  in  the  same  city  of  Leyden 
where  long  afterwards  the  future  founders  of  Massa- 
chusetts found  a  home.  With  the  Walloons,  or 
Belgian  Protestants,  were  many  Huguenots.  One 
of  these,  Jesse  de  Forest,  as  early  as  1617  came 
from  Hainault.  He  proposed  to  go  out  under  any 
protection  he  could  get  and  settle  the  new  country 
discovered  by  Hudson,  from  which  the  fur-traders 
were  sending  home  so  many  wonderful  things,  but 
the  Dutch  government  could  not  then  aid  them. 

d> 

Meanwhile  in  1619,  Rev.  John  Robinson,  pastor 
of  the  Pilgrims,  who  formed  one  of  the  two  British 
congregations  in  Leyden,  made  application  to  go  to 
New  Netherland.  The  directors  of  the  company 
were  pleased  with  the  idea ;  for  these  English  folks 
had  a  first-rate  reputation.  They  offered  to  give 
Robinson's  people  free  passage  and  cattle.  They 
also  asked  the  Congress  at  The  Hague  for  two 
Dutch  men-of-war  to  protect  the  colonists  against 
the  Spaniards  and  King  James,  but  for  many  good 
political  reasons  the  request  had  to  be  denied.  The 
war  with  Spain  was  to  reopen  the  very  next  year, 
and  the  Dutch  statesmen  could  not  spare  a  single 
ship  or  cannon,  neither  did  they  wish  to  offend  their 
British  ally,  James. 

De  Forest  then  made  application  in  1621  to  the 
English  ambassador,  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  offering 
to  take  out  fifty  or  sixty  Walloon  families.  The 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  6 1 

document  is  a  very  curious  one,  with  the  contract 
or  covenant  of  the  petitioners  in  the  centre  and 
their  names  written  as  in  a  "  round  robin,"  like  the 
spokes  of  a  wheel.  England's  sovereign  gave  per- 
mission for  this  party  of  three  hundred  souls  to 
settle  in  Virginia ;  but,  as  he  was  dreadfully  poor, 
and  was  trying  to  get  along  without  his  Parliament, 
James  could  not  and  would  not  pay  their  expenses. 

At  last  Jesse  de  Forest's  opportunity  came,  when 
the  West  India  Company  was  formed.  The  direc- 
tors took  up  his  scheme  and  carried  it  out  in  the 
settlements  which  became  New  York,  Brooklyn,  and 
Albany.  One  of  the  best  and  largest  vessels  of  the 
time,  named  the  New  Netherland,  was  fitted  out. 
She  was  of  a  hundred  tons'  greater  capacity  than 
the  Mayflower,  and  three  times  larger  than  Hudson's 
ship  of  discovery,  the  Half-Moon.  Captain  C.  J. 
May  was  made  governor  of  the  new  Dutch  prov- 
inces, which  included  the  territory  out  of  which 
the  four  Middle  states,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  have  been  formed.  Of 
the  sixty  families,  some  were  to  go  to  the  South  or 
Delaware  River,  some  were  to  be  left  on  Manhattan 
Island  or  the  lower  Hudson,  and  some  were  to  be 
established  with  a  fort  at  the  head  of  navigation  in 
the  Mauritius  or  Hudson  River  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Mohawk. 

The  splendid  new  vessel   sailed   out   in   March, 


62        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

1623,  gay  with  the  red  and  white  striped  flag  of  the 
Dutch  United  States  navy  and  of  the  corporation. 
This  latter  was  made  by  marking  on  the  red,  white, 
and  blue  flag  of  the  republic  a  monogram  consisting 
of  a  large  W,  on  the  right  and  left  lines  of  which 
were  the  letters  G  and  C,  which  stood  for  the 
Chartered  West  India  Company.  Amid  cheers  and 
huzzas,  with  signs  of  sorrow  as  well  as  of  joy,  the 
good  ship  moved  from  her  moorings  near  the 
Weeper's  Tower,  in  which  the  harbor-master  of 
Amsterdam  still  has  his  office.  On  board  the  clean 
and  comfortable  ship  were  intelligent,  God-fearing 
people,  who  loved  their  Bibles  and  enjoyed  worship. 
Although  they  had  not  their  pastor  on  board,  there 
were  church  officers  called  comforters  of  the  sick. 
Four  young  couples  on  board  were  married  at  sea. 
The  ship  after  a  pleasant  passage  reached  the  Hud- 
son River  in  May. 

Inside  of  Sandy  Hook  in  the  Bay,  Captain  May 
found  a  French  vessel  which  had  come  also  to  estab- 
lish a  colony,  on  the  basis  of  Verrazano's  discovery 
of  a  century  before  ;  but  the  Dutch  gave  notice  that 
this  was  their  country  and  they  were  going  to  hold 
it  against  all  comers.  Just  at  that  time  the  little 
armed  yacht  Mackerel  came  down  the  river  from 
Fort  Nassau.  The  French,  taking  the  hint,  left, 
accompanied  by  their  uninvited  convoy  out  into  the 
ocean.  Going  into  the  Delaware  River,  the  French 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  63 

were  warned  off  in  like  manner  by  the  Dutch  traders 
there. 

The  Walloons  were  delighted  with  the  new  land, 
which  they  first  beheld  robed  in  the  lovely  garb  of 
springtime.  "  Here  we  found,"  they  wrote  back  in 
August,  "  beautiful  rivers,  bubbling  fountains  flow- 
ing down  into  the  valleys,  basins  of  running  waters 
in  the  flat-lands ;  agreeable  fruits  in  the  woods,  such 
as  strawberries,  walnuts,  and  wild  grapes.  The  woods 
abound  with  venison.  There  is  considerable  fish  in 
the  rivers ;  good  tillage  land." 

In  the  distribution  of  the  colonists,  eight  men  were 
left  on  Manhattan  Island  and  some  families  at  the 
Wallabout  or  the  Walloon's  Bend,  on  Long  Island. 
When  this  great  ship,  one  of  the  very  largest  per- 
haps that  had  thus  far  come  to  America,  tried  to  go 
up  the  Hudson  River,  her  captain  found  that  there 
was  not  water  deep  enough  for  ships  of  this  class. 
So  when  at  Esopus  Creek,  where  is  now  the  city  of 
Kingston,  he  lightened  his  vessel  by  putting  some 
of  the  cargo  in  boats.  The  New  Nether  land  was 
thus  enabled  to  make  her  way  up  to  Fort  Nassau, 
where  Albany  now  stands.  There  the  colonists 
were  landed  and  began  so  promptly  to  plough  and 
sow  the  ground,  probably  on  the  old  maize  lands  of 
the  Indians,  that  before  Captain  May  started  home- 
ward the  sprouts  were  well  up  out  of  the  soil. 

There  was   nothing  slow  about  the   Dutch,  de- 


64        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

spite  the  sneers  we  have  inherited  from  our  English 
fathers ;  for,  meanwhile,  the  military  men  had  laid 
out  a  well-built  fort,  quadrangular  in  shape,  and  an- 
other fort  within  a  short  distance.  Eighteen  families 
were  left  at  Fort  Orange.  Thus  began  a  settle- 
ment which  in  time  became  the  first  city  north  of 
Manhattan  Island,  in  the  whole  United  States;  that 
is,  a  settlement  having  a  complete  municipal  or- 
ganization and  charter.  On  the  Delaware  River, 
Captain  May  built  a  fort  by  the  little  stream  called 
Timmer's  Kill,  where  Gloucester,  New  Jersey,  now 
stands.  Here  eight  men  were  left,  besides  the  four 
couples  that  had  been  married  on  the  New  Neth- 
er land  while  at  sea.  It  is  believed  that  a  fort  was 
also  built  on  the  Fresh  or  Connecticut  River,  at 
which  two  families  and  six  men  were  left. 

The  infant  settlements  were  not  left  alone.  In 
June,  1623,  three  ships,  named  the  Orange  Tree,  the 
Eagle,  and  the  Love,  were  sent  out  with  reinforce- 
ments by  the  West  India  Company.  These  were 
Dutch  people  from  various  states  of  the  republic. 
Jesse  de  Forest  died,  possibly  of  overwork,  in  1626, 
and  his  widow  returned  to  Holland  together  with 
the  young  medical  student  Jean  de  la  Montague, 
who,  on  November  27  of  the  same  year,  married 
her  daughter  Rachel.  No  Longfellow,  Hawthorne, 
or  Boughton  has,  with  pen  or  pencil,  told  of  this 
episode  of  love,  as  they  have  of  the  Walloon  maiden 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  65 

Priscilla  and  John  Alden.  Ten  years  later,  Dr.  de 
la  Montagne  returned  to  New  Netherland  with  his 
wife  and  children. 

The  Congress  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  suc- 
cess of  the  company  that  it  granted  a  seal,  such  as 
every  province,  city,  town,  village,  and  community 
in  the  Netherlands  has  to  this  day.  Inside  of  a 
wreath  were  the  Latin  letters  for  "  Seal  of  New 
Netherland,"  set  in  a  circle  surmounted  by  a  crown 
laid  between  stars.  Within  a  beaded  ring  was  a 
shield,  within  which  was  a  string  of  beads  and  an- 
other shield  on  which  was  a  beaver,  with  his  plough- 
share-like nose,  his  chisel-like  teeth,  his  shovel-like 
feet,  and  his  great  trowel-like  tail.  The  beaver  was 
to  New  Netherland  what  tobacco  was  to  Virginia, 
-the  emblem  of  wealth,  the  substitute  for  and 
equivalent  of  money,  and  the  index  of  a  country  to 
be  replenished  and  subdued.  Later  the  same  per- 
severing, industrious,  and  fur-bearing  animal  was 
figured  on  the  first  promises  to  pay,  or  the  Con- 
tinental money  issued  by  the  thirteen  United 
colonies. 

The  seal  of  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam,  on  Man- 
hattan Island,  consisted  of  a  triple-leaved  wreath, 
with  a  Latin  motto  meaning  the  "  Seal  of  Amster- 
dam in  New  Netherland,"  over  which  rose  the  arms 
of  the  old  city  on  the  Amstel,  surmounted  by  the 
figure  of  a  beaver.  Above  this,  filling  the  whole 


66        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

upper  part  of  the  seal,  was  the  monogram  of  the 
West  India  Company,  laid  on  an  embossed  scroll 
with  drapery  on  either  side.  When,  finally,  the  seal 
of  the  city  of  New  York  was  made,  the  beaver,  the 
windmill,  and  the  flour  barrel  took  their  places  to 
stay,  and  still  remain.  Ignorant  people,  who  do  not 
know  the  early  history  of  New  Netherland,  imagine 
these  vessels  made  by  the  cooper  to  have  been  beer 
barrels.  Englishmen  in  the  seventeenth  century 
probably  drank  more  beer  than  Dutch,  with  whom 
beer  has  never  been  especially  popular,  though  it  is 
much  enjoyed  by  Germans. 

Thus  began,  under  the  red,  white,  and  blue  flag, 
the  settlement  of  the  Empire  and  Keystone  states, 
of  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  by  industrious,  reli- 
gious, sober  people  of  excellent  traits  and  character. 
These  Walloon  Pilgrims  from  the  land  of  freedom 
and  of  heroic  and  noble  stock  were  soon  followed 
by  hundreds  of  Dutchmen,  who  came  not  only  from 
Holland,  but  from  Zealand,  Friesland,  Drenthe,  and 
from  many  places  in  the  Dutch  United  States.  In 
the  course  of  a  generation  or  two,  French  was 
dropped  and  most  of  the  people  in  New  Netherland 
spoke  the  rich  and  vigorous  language  of  Holland. 

The  republican  Dutchmen,  although  they  had 
still  to  fight  the  Spaniards  and  make  their  freedom 
sure,  took  pride  in  their  North  American  province. 
As  early  as  1625  the  Elseviers,  the  famous  printers 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  67 

of  Leyden,  who  very  probably  gave  employment  to 
several  of  the  printers  in  the  Pilgrim  company, 
published  a  book  by  De  Laet,  a  director  in  the 
West  India  Company,  entitled  "  New  World,  or  the 
Description  of  the  West  Indies,"  which  tells  about 
the  Dutch  discoveries,  explorations,  and  colonies. 

When  Captain  May's  term  of  office  expired,  Ver- 
hulst  was  sent  over  as  governor.  Brick  trading 
houses  were  built.  A  fresh  instalment  of  one  hun- 
dred head  of  cattle  arrived.  The  three  ships,  con- 
taining also  forty-five  new  colonists,  were  in  the 
convoy  of  an  armed  yacht  sent  by  the  government. 
The  great  neatness  and  cleanliness,  for  which  the 
Hollanders  are  noted,  was  shown  in  their  ocean 
transportation  of  cattle.  Such  was  their  skill  and 
care  that  only  two  animals  died  on  the  passage. 
Nevertheless,  as  soon  as  the  poor  creatures  landed, 
despite  every  care,  since  cows  are  not  botanists, 
they  ate  some  poisonous  weed  while  grazing,  and 
about  twenty  of  them  died.  The  others  multiplied, 
and  soon  milk,  cream,  butter,  cheese,  beef,  and  nour- 
ishing food  were  abundant. 

By  the  year  1625,  the  company,  having  got  all 
of  the  capital  necessary  and  the  colony  being  in 
such  a  flourishing  condition,  Peter  Minuit,  a  Wal- 
loon, was  appointed  director-general.  Sailing  in 
the  Sea- Mew,  with  a  proper  staff  of  officers,  he  ar- 
rived on  Manhattan  Island  in  May,  1626.  His  first 


68        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

official  act  was  that  of  an  honorable  Christian 
gentleman,  and  one  that  shows  the  honesty  and 
liberal  policy  of  the  Dutch,  his  masters,  who  ac- 
knowledged the  right  of  the  Indians  to  the  soil  on 
which  they  dwelt.  With  all  due  ceremony  and 
form,  under  the  red,  white,  and  blue  flag,  the  gov- 
ernor purchased  from  the  Indians  the  island  of 
Manhattan,  for  which  he  paid  them  sixty  guilders, 
or  twenty-four  dollars,  which  would  mean  about 
one  hundred  dollars  of  the  present  value.  As  the 
Indians  knew  nothing,  and  cared  nothing,  about 
stamped  metal  money  in  gold  and  silver,  Minuit 
paid  them  in  red  cloth,  brass  buttons,  and  various 
other  things,  thus  getting  about  twenty-two  thou- 
sand acres  for  what  seems  to  us  a  trifle. 

It  was  not  a  mere  whim  of  Minuit,  thus  to  pay 
the  Indians  for  their  land;  for  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment peremptorily  ordered  all  Dutch  settlers  to 
take  no  land  from  the  aborigines  without  fully  satis- 
fying their  claims.  From  the  first,  the  Dutch  policy 
with  the  Indians,  as  men  worthy  of  trust  and  kind- 
ness, was  a  noble  one.  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
excel  all  the  states  in  the  number  of  their  Indian 
deeds  and  tokens  of  the  purchase  of  land  by  white 
men  from  red.  The  aborigines  were  treated  with 
Christian  consideration,  rather  than  as  Canaanites 
to  be  exterminated. 

Director-general  Minuit  found,  in  the  settlement 


THE    WALLOONS  IN  NEW  NETHERLAND.  69 

on  Manhattan  Island,  a  well-laid-out  fort,  —  for  the 
Dutch  were  among  the  best  engineers  in  Europe  — 
a  stone  trading  house,  and  a  few  dwellings  built  of 
logs.  His  council  consisted  of  five  members,  who 
had  the  power  of  giving  advice  and  trying  offences, 
but  no  life  could  be  taken  without  reference  to  the 
home  government.  Besides  the  councillors  were  the 
secretary  and  a  schout.  The  first  secretary  was 
Isaac  dev  Rasieres,  who  had  come  in  the  ship  Arms 
of  Amsterdam.  The  schout,  John  Banope,  was  the 
first  sheriff,  and  combined  also  the  duties  of  prose- 
cuting officer;  or,  as  we  should  now  say,  district 
attorney,  for  this  peculiarly  American  office  was  in- 
troduced first  in  New  York  by  the  Dutch. 

The  first  ship  returning  to  Amsterdam  brought 
good  news  from  New  Netherland.  The  deputy 
from  Congress,  who  was  present  at  the  meeting  of 
the  West  India  Company,  wrote:  "  Our  people  there 
[in  America]  are  of  good  courage  and  live  peace- 
ably. Their  women  also  have  borne  children  there, 
they  have  bought  the  island  Manhattes  from  the 
wild  men  for  the  value  of  sixty  guilders.  .  .  .  They 
sowed  all  their  grain  in  the  middle  of  May,  and 
harvested  it  in  the  middle  of  August."  He  then 
gives  a  list  of  samples  of  summer  grain,  such  as 
wheat,  rye,  barley,  oats,  buckwheat,  canary  seed, 
beans,  and  flax.  The  cargo  of  the  ship  Arms  of 
Amsterdam  contained  7246  beaver,  853  otter,  and 


70        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

151  skins  of  minks,  lynxes,  muskrats,  and  other 
animals,  with  much  timber  of  oak  and  walnut 
wood. 

The  government  of  Minuit  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  steady  colonial  development.  He  left  his 
office  in  1633,  and  was  succeeded  by  Governor 
Wouter  Van  T wilier,  who  served  five  years.  Will- 
iam Kieft  was  next  in  office,  from  1638  to  1647. 
Governor  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  the  last  Dutch  gov- 
ernor, served  the  longest  term, — from  1647  to  1664. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

OUR    DUTCH    FOREFATHERS. 

WHAT  were  the  characteristics  of  the  people 
who  first,  before  1664,  settled  the  Middle 
states  ?  What  kind  of  men  and  women  did  the 
Dutch  republic  produce  ?  What  sort  of  colonists 
did  they  make  ?  What  did  they  bring  over  from 
Holland,  which  has  entered  into  our  American 
social  and  national  life  ?  While  the  Pilgrims  have 
been  glorified  and  the  Puritans  transfigured,  the 
Dutch  have  been  caricatured  by  Washington  Irving, 
and  Americans  have  inherited  the  prejudices  of  Eng- 
lishmen. Let  history  give  the  facts. 

The  government  of  New  Netherland  was  en- 
trusted to  a  trading  company,  and  the  Dutch  peo- 
ple under  its  rule  were  not  as  the  Walloons  or 
Pilgrims.  They  had  not  come,  as  in  Virginia,  for 
either  adventure  or  gold ;  or,  as  in  Massachusetts,  on 
account  of  religious  persecution;  or,  as  in  other  colo- 
nies, in  the  name  of  politics,  religion,  or  philanthropy. 
They  went  out  of  a  republic,  simply  as  in  later 
times ;  the  people  from  the  United  States,  east  of 
the  Alleghanies,  crossed  the  mountains  and  prairies 
to  settle  the  Western  states,  that  is,  to  better  their 

7' 


/2        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

conditions,  to  find  new  homes  in  a  new  country. 
They  had  only  feelings  of  gratitude  to  the  land  and 
people  in  the  old  home. 

Religion  and  education  were  cared  for  in  New 
Netherland.  Although  the  people  had  their  Bibles 
and  catechisms  and  church  officers  called  "  com- 
forters of  the  sick,"  they  were  without  a  minister 
of  the  gospel,  until  1628.  Then  the  Rev.  Jonas 
Michaelius,  who  had  been  a  student  in  Leyden, 
while  the  Pilgrims  lived  there,  arrived.  He  found 
that  there  were  in  all  New  Netherland  about  three 
hundred  colonists.  The  farmers  of  Manhattan 
Island  were  in  great  need  of  laborers.  Plenty  of 
timber  had  been  cut  and  a  windmill  built  to  saw 
the  logs  into  boards.  A  grist-mill  to  turn  the  grain 
into  flour  was  worked  by  horse  power.  Experiments 
in  baking  brick  from  the  clay,  making  lime  from 
oyster  shells,  potash  from  wood  ashes,  and  salt  by 
evaporating  sea  water,  showed  that  the  lively  and 
inventive  Netherlanders  were,  like  the  busy  bee, 
"  improving  every  hour."  Some  seemed  over-vent- 
urous. Wood-cutters  were  in  the  forest  shaping 
beams,  posts,  knees,  and  spars  for  a  great  ship  which 
was  to  be  larger  than  anything  yet  built,  even  in 
Holland,  and  which  was  between  eight  and  twelve 
hundred  tons'  burden.  Troubles  between  the  Indians 
had  begun,  for  the  Mohicans  and  Iroquois  were  at 
war,  which  spoiled  for  a  time  the  fur  trade.  Minuit 


OUR  DUTCH  FOREFATHERS.  73 

ordered  some  of  the  people  from  Fort  Orange  to 
come  down  to  Manhattan  for  safety. 

A  Dutchman  calls  his  pastor  "  Domine."  Scot- 
tish folks  call  a  "  stickit  minister,"  or  a  schoolmas- 
ter, a  "  Dominie."  The  Dutch  used  good  unaltered 
Latin.  We  ought  to  do  likewise.  In  the  primitive 
settlement  of  log  cabin  and  bark  huts,  Domine 
Michaelius  organized  a  church.  Although  the 
people  were  all  free,  and  some  rough  and  loose, 
like  most  colonists  and  frontiersmen,  yet  the 
Domine  found  that  many  had  brought  their  cer- 
tificates of  church  membership  with  them.  Direc- 
tor Minuit  and  the  storekeeper  of  the  company 
were  made  church  officers.  The  former  gen- 
tleman had  been  a  deacon  in  the  Dutch  church 
and  the  latter  an  elder  in  the  French  church 
at  Wesel,  where  many  English  refugees  during 
Bloody  Mary's  rule  dwelt  and  where  the  first 
synod  of  the  Reformed  churches  in  the  Nether- 
lands had  been  held.  At  the  first  celebration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  the  meeting-house,  which 
was  in  the  second  story  of  the  horse  mill,  no  fewer 
than  fifty  communicants  enjoyed  this  Christian 
privilege.  Fortunately  Michaelius  could  preach  in 
two  languages.  He  thus  served  both  the  Walloon 
and  Huguenot  people  and  the  Dutch  folks. 

The  Consistory,  as  the  governing  body  of  a 
Dutch  or  Reformed  church  is  called,  whether  in 


74        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Holland,  America,  or  South  Africa,  consisted  of 
four  persons,  including  the  Domine  and  elder 
Sebastian  Crol,  who  was  in  command  at  Fort 
Orange.  This  pioneer  was  not  only  a  good  and 
intelligent  leader,  but  is  the  traditional  inventor 
of  the  "cruller,"  of  which  the  doughnut  is  the 
coarser  expression.  In  the  long  winter  months, 
when  it  was  difficult  to  procure  meat,  Sebastian 
Crol,  whose  name  was  pronounced  Crull,  made  the 
cruller  a  pretty  fair  substitute  for  steaks,  chops,  and 
sausages. 

The  Domine's  letter  dated  August  n,  1828, 
and  unearthed  in  1858,  was  addressed  to  his  friend 
Domine  Smout  of  Amsterdam,  —  that  hot  and 
intolerant  enemy  of  the  Arminians  who  was  de- 
servedly lampooned  by  the  poet  Vondel. 

Michaelius  wrote  about  the  Indians  in  pretty 
much  the  same  spirit  as  Edward  Winslow  of  Mas- 
sachusetts did  about  Massasoit  and  his  followers. 
The  modern  science  of  comparative  religion,  in- 
itiated by  the  Dutch,  who  first  introduced  Oriental 
studies  in  Europe,  had  not  then  been  formulated. 
At  first  the  Domine  thought  these  men,  cased  in 
a  skin  tinted  like  old  copper,  were  strangers  to  all 
decency,  uncivil  and  unscrupulous,  "  who  serve  no- 
body but  the  devil."  Nevertheless,  he  at  once 
began  to  take  thought  for  their  salvation,  and  make 
plans  which  his  successors  enlarged  and  carried  out. 


OUR  D UTCH  FOREFA THERS.  7 5 

Of  all  the  colonists  who  came  to  America,  none, 
in  the  long  run,  treated  the  Indians  more  Chris- 
tianly  and  humanely  than  the  Dutch. 

The  company  promised  to  maintain  preachers, 
schoolmasters,  and  comforters  of  the  sick,  but  they 
did  not  at  first  carry  out  their  agreements  very 
well.  Soulless  corporations,  as  a  rule,  care  more 
to  make  money  than  to  keep  promises.  Never- 
theless, there  were  soon  in  New  Netherland  four 
well-educated  ministers,  learned  men  and  graduates 
of  universities.  The  Dutch,  who  founded  and  en- 
dowed the  four  universities  of  Leyden,  Franeker, 
Groningen,  and  Utrecht,  during  their  war  of  inde- 
pendence, and  two  more,  Harderwijk  and  Amster- 
dam, when  they  had  won  their  freedom,  insisted 
upon  a  learned  ministry.  They  were  more  afraid 
of  ignorance  than  they  were  of  the  Spaniards. 
During  the  era  of  their  "  Golden  Lion,"  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  little  republic  in  size,  less  than 
half  the  size  of  South  Carolina,  led  all  Europe  in 
learning  and  inventions. 

Churches,  nearly  .every  one  of  which  had  a  school 
attached  to  it,  sprang  up  in  the  Hudson  and 
Mohawk  valleys  and  on  Long  Island.  Before 
1664  thirteen  ministers  had  been  provided,  of 
whom  seven  were  serving  as  pastors  at  the  time 
of  the  English  conquest,  and  eleven  churches 
were  in  existence,  besides  one  or  two  out  stations. 


76        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Some  of  these  scholarly  clergymen  were  writers 
of  books,  including  excellent  descriptions  of  the 
new  country,  and  some  composed  poetry.  Domine 
Steendam's  verses,  "  The  Complaint  of  New  Am- 
sterdam to  her  Mother "  and  "  The  Praise  of  New 
Netherland,"  are  well  known. 

The  Rev.  Johannes  Van  Mechlin  was  another 
scholarly  minister.  He  was  son  of  a  Walloon 
pastor  at  Egmont-on-the-Sea  in  North  Holland. 
He  is  best  known  as  "Domine  Megapolensis,"  for, 
like  most  learned  men  in  those  days,  he  Latinized 
his  name.  He  made  friends  with  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
Jogues,  Bressanni,  and  La  Moyne.  He  arrived  in 
1642,  with  a  party  of  immigrants,  to  help  build  up 
the  patroon's  settlement  at  Rensselaerwyk  (now 
Albany).  He  studied  the  language  of  the  Mohawk 
Indians,  preaching  and  teaching  them  gospel  truths, 
three  years  before  John  Eliot  began  his  ministry. 
At  first  the  red  men  laughed,  scoffed,  or  got  tired 
and  slunk  away,  but  soon  he  moved  their  hearts. 
From  that  time,  for  a  century  on,  Indian  converts 
were  common  in  the  Dutch  valley  churches,  besides 
schools  for  the  religious  instruction  of  the  Indian 
children.  In  his  later  days,  when  at  New  Amster- 
dam, the  Domine  became  rather  Puritanical  and 
showed  an  intolerant  spirit  toward  the  Lutherans 
and  Independents.  This  was  entirely  opposed  to 
the  Dutch  idea  that  "  where  persecution  begins, 


OUR   DUTCH  FOREFATHERS.  77 

Christianity  ends."  By  the  very  next  mail  from 
the  mother  country,  both  the  parson  and  the  gov- 
ernor were  rebuked  for  their  hot-headed  folly,  and 
warned  not  to  be  too  precise  in  matters  indifferent. 
They  gave  Stuyvesant  to  understand  that  in  affairs 
of  conscience  all  colonists,  from  whatever  country  or 
whatever  church,  were  to  enjoy  the  same  freedom  as 
in  the  mother  country. 

Despite  the  angry  quarrels  between  individual 
hot-headed  Calvinists  and  Arminians,  toleration  was 
the  law  of  the  Dutch  republic.  As  early  as  1577, 
before  Roger  Williams  was  born,  William  the  Silent 
had  laid  the  corner  stone  of  the  Dutch,  as  it  is  of  the 
American,  republic  in  these  words :  "  We  declare 
that  you  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  con- 
science of  any  one."  Hence  it  was  that  among  the 
Dutch  in  America,  those  driven  out  of  New  Eng- 
land found  refuge  in  New  Netherland.  The  church 
records  show  that  despite  some  irregularities  in 
morals,  natural  to  a  frontier  and  colonial  life,  the 
standard  of  social  morality  in  New  Netherland  was 
not  exceeded,  if  it  was  equalled,  by  any  colony  on 
the  Atlantic  coast. 

Other  books  were  written.  One  was  by  the  law- 
yer Van  der  Donck,  the  "  yonkheer,"  or  young 
master,  after  whom  Yonkers  is  named.  The  literary 
activity  of  New  Netherland  was  very  creditable  to 
so  small  a  colony,  for  the  number  of  Dutchmen 


78        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

actually  settled  between  New  Castle  in  Delaware 
and  Schenectady  on  the  Mohawk,  and  between 
Montauk  Point  and  the  Catskills,  probably  never  at 
any  one  time  exceeded  five  thousand.  The  number 
of  those  who  came  and  went,  lived  or  died  on  the 
soil,  during  the  forty-one  years  of  the  colony's  life 
as  a  Dutch  possession,  never  exceeded  fifteen  thou- 
sand. On  the  James  River  and  in  Massachusetts, 
in  1664,  these  numbers  could  be  multiplied  fourfold. 
It  is  hard  to  get  people  who  are  living  in  pros- 
perity to  leave  their  own  homes  and  to  colonize  new 
lands.  Emigration  from  the  Old  to  New  Nether- 
land  was  so  slow,  that  in  1629  the  directors  of 
"  John  Company,"  as  it  was  popularly  called,  hit 
upon  a  new  plan  and  published  a  Charter  of  Privi- 
leges and  Exemptions.  This  allowed  the  directors 
and  some  others  to  be  "  patroons  "  of  New  Nether- 
land.  This  term  is  very  old  in  Holland,  and  means 
a  captain  or  lord  of  an  estate.  Whoever  should, 
within  the  space  of  four  years,  undertake  to  plant 
a  colony  of  fifty  people  over  fifteen  years  of  age  in 
New  Netherland,  should  be  allowed  as  his  absolute 
property  sixteen  miles  of  territory  on  one  side  of 
any  river  in  New  Netherland,  or  eight  miles  on  both 
sides,  without  limit  of  the  land  back  from  the  stream ; 
but  the  land  must  be  bought  first  from  the  Indians 

O 

who  lived  upon  it.     The  patroon  was  to  own  the 
land.     The  settlers  could  only  live  on  it,  while  even 


OUR  DUTCH  FOREFATHERS.  79 

the  privileges  of  hunting  and  fishing,  and  the  fish, 
the  timber,  and  the  minerals  were  reserved  as  his 
own.  Neither  the  patroons  nor  their  tenantry 
could  engage  in  the  fur  trade,  for  that  was  to  be  the 
privilege  of  the  company.  For  ten  years  the 
patroons  and  the  farmers  on  their  land  were  to  be 
free  from  taxes,  or  service,  and  were  to  be  protected 
by  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  this  armed  commercial 
corporation. 

Altogether,  the  patroon  system  was  a  curious 
mixture  of  great  privileges  and  petty  restrictions. 
Soon  after  this,  two  of  the  directors,  Samuel  Blom- 
maert  and  Samuel  Bodyn,  became  patroons  and 
bought  lands  on  the  Delaware  River.  Very  prob- 
ably the  name  of  their  settlement,  meaning  "  Swan 
Valley,"  had  reference  to  that  wonderfully  beautiful 
region  along  the  Waal  River  in  Brabant,  where  is 
located  the  legend  of  the  White  Swans  which 
Wagner  has  made  familiar  in  the  opera  of  "  Lohen- 
grin." Kilian  Van  Rensselaer,  an  Amsterdam  pearl- 
importer,  bought  many  miles  of  land  north  and 
south  of  Fort  Orange,  calling  it  Rensselaerwyk. 
Michael  Paauw  secured  lands  on  the  Hudson  River 
which  he  called  Pavonia,  which  is  the  Latin  for  his 
own  Dutch  name,  which  means  Peacock. 

The  Dutch  claimed  New  Netherland  by  the  triple 
right  of  discovery,  exploration,  and  occupation. 
They  not  only  resisted  the  attempts  of  the  English 


80        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

to  enter  the  Hudson  River,  but  they  sent  a  party  of 
men  led  by  Jacobus  Van  Curler  into  the  Connecticut 
River  to  buy  the  land  from  the  Indian  owners  and  to 
erect  a  trading  house  there.  Since  they  had  first 
entered  this  stream,  one  would  hardly  have  thought 
it  necessary  to  fortify  their  title  by  purchase.  Yet 
to  make  their  claim  sure,  and  to  hasten  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  boundary  line  between  New  Netherland 
and  New  England,  the  land  for  about  sixty  miles 
from  Long  Island  Sound,  including  the  site  of 
Hartford,  was  bought  from  the  Indian  occupants, 
besides  another  tract  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
called  Kieviet's  Hoek.  The  arms  of  the  West 
India  Company  were  nailed  upon  a  tree  to  show 
possession.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  present 
Colt's  Firearm  Factory,  in  Hartford,  where  the 
street  names  to-day  recall  Dutch  history,  a  redoubt 
and  dwellings  were  built  and  called  the  House  of 

O 

Good  Hope.  Here  two  small  cannon  were  mounted 
in  charge  of  an  old  artillery  soldier  named  Hans 
Janse  Eencluys. 

These  Dutchmen  in  New  Netherland  were  not 
the  over-fat,  beer-swilling,  pig-eyed,  boasting,  and 
vulgar  fellows  pictured  by  Washington  Irving. 
The  average  Hollander  is  probably  not  as  heavy  in 
weight  as  the  average  Englishman.  In  his  pictures, 
poems,  speeches,  novels,  and  theatres,  the  modern 
American  and  often  the  educated  person  makes  his 


OUR  DUTCH  FOREFATHERS.  8 1 

Dutchmen  talk  German  or  "  Pennsylvania  Dutch," 
—  which  is  not  Dutch,  but  late  American-German. 
The  average  settler  in  New  Netherland  was  quite 
the  equal  of  the  average  colonist  anywhere  from 
Maine  to  Georgia.  In  devoutness,  honesty,  social 
morality,  intelligence,  and  the  enterprise  that  makes 
good  homes  and  supports  churches  and  schools,  the 
New  Netherlander  was  above  the  average  European 
colonist  in  America. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    THREE    VAN    CURLERS. 

WAN  RENSSELAER  MANOR  was  the  only 
*  one  that  proved  an  entire  success,  and  this 
was  made  so  chiefly  through  the  exe'rtions  and  ad- 
dress of  the  commissary  or  superintendent,  Arendt 
Van  Curler,  cousin  of  the  patroon  and  one  of  the 
noblest  characters  in  all  the  history  of  the  thirteen 
colonies.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  character,  of 
generous  culture,  and  of  tremendous  energy,  withal 
possessed  of  many  Christian  graces  and  virtues. 
Finding  that  the  only  communication  with  Man- 
hattan Island  was  very  slow,  because  the  sloops 
were  often  becalmed  in  the  river,  he  used  canoes 
and  light  sailing  boats,  by  which  he  hurried  forward 
new  colonists  immediately  after  their  arrival.  He 
imported  cattle,  swine,  and  horses,  suppressed  muti- 
nies, cheered  up  the  people,  made  friends  with  the 
Indians,  and  rescued  or  ransomed  Christian  captives, 
especially  Frenchmen,  from  torture  and  death  at 
the  hands  of  the  Iroquois.  He  explored  the  coun- 
try round  about,  and  was  probably  the  first  white 
man  to  make  a  journey  through  the  Mohawk  valley. 

82 


THE    THREE    VAN  CURLERS.  83 

In  a  document  still  extant  he  described  this  fair 
region  in  witty  and  brilliant  fashion. 

There  were  three  Van  Curlers  in  the  colony,  and 
these  three  were  typical  of  the  three  distinct  types 
of  Dutchmen  who  settled  New  Netherland.  The 
least  important  of  them  all,  Anthony,  is  the  one 
most  popularly  known,  because  Washington  Irving 
has  made  of  him  a  tremendous  caricature.  Irving's 

o 

fanciful  sketch  has  been  enlarged  during  successive 
generations  by  comic  artists  and  made  into  many 
pictures ;  while  Arendt,  who  was  one  of  the  really 
great  makers  of  America,  is  unknown  to  most 
people. 

Who  has  not  read  of  the  "jolly  robustious  trum- 
peter named  Anthony  Van  Corlear,  famous  for  his 
long  wind,  who  led  a  roystering  life,  giving  dances 
to  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  Burghers  of  the 
Manhattoes,"  "  commandant  of  windmills  and  cham- 
pion of  New  Amsterdam,"  who  in  Connecticut 
"  twanged  his  trumpet  like  a  very  devil,"  and  who 
at  last  Spyt  den  Duivel  blew  his  last  blast  and  sank 
to  the  bottom  in  trying  to  swim  the  Harlem  River, 
giving  his  name  to  Anthony's  Nose  on  the  Hudson  ? 

The  historical  foundation  for  Irving's  figment  of 
fancy  is  simply  this.  A  banquet  was  given  to  Myn- 
heer de  Vries  in  the  angle  of  the  fort,  and  the  trum- 
peter Anthony  Van  Curler,  or  "  Corlaer,"  blew  his 
trumpet  at  the  height  of  the  feast;  for  this  he  was 


84        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

scolded  by  a  shopman  and  a  supercargo.  This  the 
trumpeter  resented,  so  that  for  a  while  there  was  some 
danger  of  a  quarrel  ending  in  bloodshed.  Anthony 
the  trumpeter  having  given  to  each  of  the  mercantile 
men  a  drubbing,  they  ran  home,  vowing  vengeance, 
and  got  their  swords.  However,  their  wrath  evap- 
orated in  words.  In  the  morning  "  they  feared  the 
trumpeter  more  than  they  sought  him."  On  this 
tiny  pebble  of  fact,  a  tremendous  superstructure  of 
art,  legends,  jokes,  and  caricatures  has  been  built. 
Anthony  Van  Curler's  ancestors  lived  at  Stavo- 
ren  in  Friesland,  where  of  old  was  the  rich  city  and 
shrine  of  Stavo,  the  Frisian  Thor  whose  name  we 
have  in  Thursday.  One  of  them,  a  woman,  asked 
her  husband,  a  ship  captain,  to  bring  her  back  "  the 
most  precious  thing  in  the  world."  The  good  man 
did  so,  and  returned  with  wheat.  Disappointed  and 
angry,  she  ordered  the  grain  to  be  thrown  overboard. 
This  was  done.  The  grain  sprouted  and  formed  a 
sand  bank,  which  ruined  the  harbor,  as  one  knows 
who  has  seen  the  broad  crass-crown  bar  in  front  of 

O  O 

the  harbor,  called  the  "  Vrouwensand."  Anthony 
came  to  America  in  a  Portuguese  ship  and,  liking 
the  new  country,  remained. 

The  trumpeter  was  a  striking  and  picturesque 
figure  not  only  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe  in  the 
sixteenth  and  the  seventeenth  centuries,  but  notably 
so  among  those  triumphant  republicans  of  the  Neth- 


"THE  TRUMPETER  WAS  A  STRIKING  AND  PICTURESQUE  FIGURE." 


THE    THREE    VAN  CURLERS.  85 

erlands  who  had  humbled  kings  and  emperors. 
William  Bradford  tells  of  the  great  show  and  form 
made  by  a  richly  costumed  Dutch  trumpeter,  who 
accompanied  Isaac  de  Rasieres,  when  the  latter 
visited  the  Plymouth  men,  to  bear  the  greetings  of 
their  fellow-Christians  at  Manhattan.  The  repub- 
lican trumpeters  had  the  red,  white,  and  blue  silk 
flag  hanging  from  their  trumpets.  Sometimes  this 
took  on  a  resplendent  phase,  as  when,  after  some 
great  victory  over  the  Spaniards,  they  used  a  flag  of 
twenty-one  stripes,  or  seven  series  of  the  red,  white, 
and  blue,  indicative  of  the  seven  states  of  the  re- 
public. The  Dutch  were  as  intensely  fond  of  color 
and  brilliancy  in  their  art,  costumes,  gardens,  and 
heraldry,  as  they  were  of  plainness  and  severity  in 
their  churches.  Puritans  in  religion  and  morals,  as 
many  of  them  were,  they  loved  all  bright  and  beauti- 
ful things  and  the  joys  and  graces  of  life. 

Jacobus  Van  Curler,  whose  name  is  preserved  in 
"  Corlear's  Hook  "  in  the  borough  of  Manhattan,  in 
Greater  New  York,  was  a  schoolmaster  in  New 
Amsterdam  and  a  landowner  on  Long  Island.  He 
stands  as  a  fine  type  of  the  educated  Dutch  gentle- 
man, who  had  neither  poverty  nor  riches.  Gov- 
ernor Kieft,  when  it  was  vitally  important  that  the 
Dutch  and  English  nations  should  preserve  friend- 
ship, sent  Jacobus  Van  Curler  into  Connecticut  to 
take  command  of  the  House  of  Good  Hope.  He 


86        THE  ROMANCE    OF  A  AI ERIC  AN  COLONIZATION. 

was  ordered,  at  all  hazards,  to  keep  the  peace.  Act- 
ing wisely  and  honorably,  Jacobus  received  the 
approval  of  his  superiors.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
ten  or  more  schoolmasters  in  New  Netherland  who 
helped  to  keep  popular  intelligence  in  pace  with 
religion.  Afterwards  he  purchased  Long  Island 
from  the  Indians.  Honest,  wise,  and  brave  was 
Jacobus  Van  Curler,  one  of  the  fine  types  of  the 
middle  class  among  the  founders  of  the  Empire 
State. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  seaport  on  Man- 
hattan Island,  where,  before  1664,  no  fewer  than 
fourteen  languages  were  spoken,  had  probably  its 
full  share  of  dram-shops  and  of  the  kind  of  floating 
population  noted  for  drunkenness,  brawls,  and  immo- 
rality. Yet  the  average  life,  both  at  the  seaport  and 
the  inland  settlements,  in  spite  of  rough  pioneer 
work  and  frontier  experiences,  was  softened  by  high 
ancestral  ideals,  ornamented  and  purified  by  educa- 
tion, and  made  beautiful  and  aspiring  by  religion. 

Arendt  Van  Curler  was  among  the  very  noblest 
of  the  men  who  founded  New  Netherland.  He  has 
also  one  of  the  best  records  made  by  any  of  the 
makers  of  America.  He  arrived  at  Fort  Orange  in 
1630.  He  put  new  life  in  the  colony  of  Rensselaer- 
wyk.  He  quickly  showed  himself  a  far-sighted 
statesman.  He  understood  the  situation  at  once. 
If  the  French  in  Canada  were  able  to  win  over  to 


THE    THREE    VAN  CURLERS.  87 

their  side  the  great  Confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations 
of  the  Iroquois  Indians,  then  they  would  very  likely 
get  possession  of  all  North  America.  This  Van 
Curler  determined  they  should  not  do.  When 
Champlain,  in  1609,  interfered  in  the  quarrels 
between  the  Algonquin  and  Iroquois  Indians,  by 
taking  sides  with  his  arquebus  in  the  battle  by  the 
shore  of  the  lake,  he  sounded  the  death-knell  of 
French  power  in  America.  The  angered  and  de- 
feated Iroquois  came  to  Fort  Orange,  as  early  as 
1612,  and  supplied  themselves  with  firearms.  Eel- 
kins,  the  commander,  made  with  them  a  league  of 
peace  and  friendship,  and  the  Dutch  and  the  Iro- 
quois remained  friends  for  many  years.  Arendt 
Van  Curler  determined  to  make  this  league  more 
solemn  and  perpetual.  Despite  occasional  out- 
breaks, the  policy  of  the  Dutch  with  the  Indians 
was  from  the  first  peaceful.  Van  Curler  learned 
the  Indians'  language,  their  manners  and  customs, 
mastered  their  signs,  and  divined  the  meaning  of 
their  secret  societies.  Before  the  end  of  his  life,  he 
was  one  of  the  very  few  white  men  in  America  who 
knew  the  most  sacred  traditions  of  the  red  men  and 
had  been  initiated  into  their  mystic  fraternity.  In 
presence  of  their  greatest  chiefs,  at  the  sacred  spot 
of  Tawasentha,  on  Norman's  Kill,  just  below 
Albany,  "  the  place  of  many  dead,"  the  holy  sepul- 
chre of  the  fathers  and  the  seat  of  Hiawatha's  first 


88        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

civilizing  work,  he  reconfirmed  the  perpetual  league 
of  peace  and  friendship  with  the  Five  Nations  of 
Iroquois  Indians. 

This  was  a  mighty  stroke  of  policy,  which  had  a 
profound  influence  in  determining  future  American 
history  and  in  saving  the  continent  of  North 
America  to  the  ideas  of  Germanic  instead  of  Latin 
civilization.  It  was  like  building  a  great  break- 
water, or  an  immovable  dike,  stretching  from  the 
Hudson  River  to  Niagara,  which  protected  the 
colonies  against  French  invasion  from  Canada. 
It  was  surer,  in  its  intended  results,  than  was  the 
Great  Wall  of  China,  which  stretches  across  moun- 
tain, river,  and  plain  over  a  distance  as  great  as  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  Kansas  City.  Masonry  and 
brick  could  never  keep  out  the  Tartars  from  the 
Middle  Kingdom,  but  the  "  Covenant  of  Corlaer  " 
prevented  the  French  from  ever  possessing  the 
Hudson  valley  and  its  gateway  to  the  ocean.  For 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  "  Bourbonnieres  "  in 
the  North  tried  to  break  this  dike  of  defence,  but 
neither  by  gold,  nor  bribes,  nor  diplomacy,  nor  by 
sending  their  priests  among  the  Iroquois,  nor  by 
armed  invasions,  were  the  French  ever  able  to  win 
away  the  friendship  of  the  Iroquois  for  the  Dutch, 
and  the  English  their  heirs.  The  savages  always 
remained  "  faithful  to  the  Covenant  of  Corlaer." 
This  friendship  of  the  mightiest  confederacy  of 


THE    THREE    VAN  CURLERS.  89 

Indians  on  the  continent  was  most  potent  in  finally 
deciding  the  ownership  of  North  America. 

When  the  English  conquest  of  1664  took  place, 
Arendt  Van  Curler  was  at  once  sought  for  by 
Colonel  Nichols  to  have  the  friendship  of  the  Five 
Nations  transferred  to  the  English.  Then  Van 
Curler  met  the  chiefs,  and  "  the  silver  chain  was 
brightened "  and  maintained  until  the  Revolution, 
when  the  white  men  themselves,  Americans  and 
English,  separated.  In  the  long  wars  in  America 
between  England  and  France,  Peter  Schuyler  and 
Sir  William  Johnson  continued  the  work  of  Van 
Curler.  The  Iroquois  confederacy  was  the  one 
decisive  element  and  fact  which  prevented  the 
French  from  cutting  the  chain  of  the  colonies  in 
two  by  seizing  New  York  and  thus  dividing  New 
England  from  the  Southern  colonies. 

The  impression  made  on  the  Indians  by  the 
commanding  personality  of  Arendt  Van  Curler  is 
easily  seen  in  the  title  they  gave  him.  The  red 
men  addressed  the  colonial  governors,  whose  names 
they  could  not  and  did  not  care  to  remember,  in 
varying  terms.  They  called  one  a  pen,  another  a 
rock,  or  a  mountain,  or  a  fish,  employing  some 
metaphorical  or  merely  official  term,  but  they  always 
called  the  governors  of  New  York  by  the  personal 
name  of  "  Corlaer."  To  this  day,  the  proud  title 
of  Queen  Victoria  in  use  among  the  Canadian  red 


QO        THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

men  is  "  Kora-Kowa,"  which  means  "  The  Illustri- 
ous Van  Curler,"  or  "  the  great  Corlaer."  Kowa 
means  great,  and  Kora  is  only  the  corruption  of  the 
name  Curler. 

Arendt  Van  Curler  was  always  the  friend  of  order, 
morals,  and  religion.  A  devout  man,  a  steadfast 
friend,  a  loving  husband,  yet  he  was  a  man  of  prog- 
ress. He  educated  himself  out  of  the  semi-feudal- 
ism of  the  patroon  system  and  became  intelligently 
hostile  to  monopoly  and  the  selfishness  of  absentee 
proprietorship.  He  opposed  strenuously  the  selling 
of  intoxicating  liquors  to  the  Indians,  persuading 
them  to  use,  instead,  the  white  man's  beverage,  beer, 
which  at  that  time,  before  the  days  of  tea  and  coffee, 
all  civilized  men  drank.  Van  Curler  was  one  of  the 
first  temperance  reformers  in  America.  A  man  of 
unspotted  truth,  he  was  believed  in  even  by  the 
French.  He  was  equally  trusted  by  English,  by 
Dutch,  and  by  the  Indians.  He  was  a  man  of 
impartial  justice  to  all,  and,  as  the  greatest  man  in 
northern  New  Netherland,  he  was  the  servant  of  all. 
In  a  word,  he  was  a  man  of  light  and  leading. 

Arendt  Van  Curler  came  over  as  a  young  bache- 
lor, but  when  determined  to  leave  the  patroon's 
service,  he  led  westward  a  colony  of  free  farmers. 
With  them  he  bought  land  from  the  Indians  of  the 
Mohawk  valley,  holding  it  in  fee  simple,  so  as  to 
give  it  to  children  or  heirs.  He  married  the  widow 


THE    THREE    VAN  CURLERS.  91 

of  Jonas  Bronck,  after  whom  Bronxville  takes  its 
name.  This  Jonas  Bronck,  by  the  way,  was  one  of 
the  first  men  in  America  to  own  and  enjoy  Japa- 
nese works  of  art,  including  one  of  the  splendid 
swords  for  which  the  artificers  of  the  Mikado's  em- 
pire are  famous.  In  fiction  Mrs.  Catherwood  has 
pictured  him  in  her  romance,  "  The  Lady  of  Fort 
St.  John." 

Van  Curler  made  a  voyage  to  Holland  and  then 
on  his  return  purchased  the  land  of  the  Great  Flat, 
in  the  Mohawrk  valley.  In  1661,  with  his 'company 
of  fourteen  men,  with  their  families,  he  founded 
Schenectady,  a  village  fortified  with  palisades,  hav- 
ing the  church  in  the  centre.  Long  considered  as 
the  frontier  town  of  "  The  Far  West,"  Schenectady 
stood  against  monopolists  and  men  like  Andros,  for 
progress  and  for  free  and  unshackled  commerce. 

When  Van  Curler  was  invited  by  Governor 
Tracy  to  visit  him  in  Canada,  —  for  all  Frenchmen 
were  very  grateful  to  him  for  having  ransomed  or 
rescued  several  Jesuit  missionaries  from  the  Ind- 
ians, —  he  started  to  go.  In  a  great  storm  on 
Lake  Champlain,  having,  as  the  superstitious  natives 
imagined,  insulted  their  gods,  the  founder  of  the 
Dutch  peace  policy  with  the  Indians  was  drowned. 

How  Van  Curler  met  his  death  was  told  by  his 
red  friends  in  a  way  that  curiously  illustrates  their 
geography  and  religion.  In  the  middle  of  the  lake 


Q2        THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

lying  between  the  Green  and  the  Adirondack 
mountains,  beside  which  Champlain  fired  the  shot 
that  gave  America  to  the  Germanic  peoples,  rises  a 
famous  island  called  Rock  Regio.  This  landmark 
rising  out  of  the  water  was  the  ancient  boundary 
between  the  Algonquin  and  the  Iroquois  tribes.  A 
canoe  from  either  north  or  south  passing  the  shadow 
of  this  rock,  even  in  time  of  peace,  except  by  special 
treaty,  became  lawful  spoil.  Here,  as  the  forest 
warriors  believed,  dwelt  a  god  who  watched  over 
the  covenant  and  could  raise  storms  and  punish 
intruders  and  all  who  displeased  him.  The  Indians 
never  passed  Rock  Regio  without  paying  homage 
to  the  god  of  the  boundary,  by  casting  a  pipe,  a 
knife,  or  some  tobacco  into  the  water  as  a  sacred 
act.  Arendt  Van  Curler  laughed  at  the  Indians 
and  their  notions,  and  made  comic  gestures  in 
mockery.  Soon  a  storm  arose,  the  light  canoes 
were  tossed  about  and  overturned,  and  Van  Curler 
was  drowned.  This  the  red  men  attributed  to  the 
anger  of  the  god.  They  mourned  greatly  over 
their  good  friend. 

Arendt  Van  Curler's  name  survives  and  soars 
through  the  ages  on  the  "  winged  words  "  of  the 
Iroquois  language.  His  memory  also  lives  in  "  Cor- 
laer's  Rock,"  "  Corlaer's  Bay,"  and  in  "  Arendt's 
Kill,"  a  stream  near  the  city  of  Catskill  ;  while  his 
city  on  the  Mohawk  was  long  called  by  the  French 


THE    THREE    VAN  CURLERS.  93 

"  the  town  of  Corlaer  "  and  Lake  Champlain  "  Cor- 
laer's  Lake."  On  the  seal  of  the  fair  city  of  Sche- 
nectady,  which  he  founded,  is  engraved  a  sheaf  of 
ripe  wheat,  or  what  was  anciently  called  corn,  for 
Curler  means  Korn-aar  or  corn-ear.  Better  than 
his  female  ancestor  of  Stavoren,  did  Arendt  Van 
Curler  sow  seed,  which  we  still  reap  in  harvests  of 
national  prosperity. 

The  Dutchmen  in  New  Netherland  were  deter- 
mined to  have  representative  government,  even 
though  many  of  them  had  settled  on  the  patroons' 
manors.  The  majority  of  colonists,  however,  lived 
outside  of  these  manors  on  free  land.  Under  Gov- 
ernor Kieft  a  representative  body  was  formed  for 
the  purpose  of  consultation  in  the  enactment  of 
laws.  These  "  eight  men  "  assembled  first  on  Sep- 
tember 15,  1643. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    FREE    CHURCHMEN    IN    EUROPE    AND    AMERICA. 

SWITZERLAND  is  a  little  country,  not  much 
more  than  half  the  size  of  South  Carolina, 
which  has  grandly  contributed  to  the  making  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  For  centuries  her 
twenty-two  cantons,  or  counties,  have  been  united  in 
federal  union.  Amid  the  great  monarchies  around 
them,  France,  Italy,  Austria,  and  Germany,  the  Swiss 
have  maintained  freedom  in  their  Alpine  home. 
Out  from  their  valleys  and  off  their  mountain  slopes, 
during  the  past  three  hundred  years,  have  come 
thousands  of  intelligent  people  to  colonize  America. 
Especially  do  the  Carolinas  and  Pennsylvania  owe 
much  to  the  Swiss.  Many  of  the  ablest  military 
officers  in  colonial  days,  and  in  later  times  some  of 
our  most  eminent  educators  and  men  of  science, 
were  from  Switzerland. 

Yet  the  greatest  debt  of  our  nation  is  to  the  Swiss 
free  churchmen,  who  separated  religion  from  politi- 
cal control,  and  the  church  from  the  intermeddling 
of  magistrates.  These  Christians  taught  and  lived 

94 


FREE    CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA.       95 

and  died  for  the  doctrine  that  lies  at  the  basis  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  —  that  con- 
science is  free.  These  separatists  from  the  political 
churches  were  the  spiritual  forefathers  of  millions  of 
American  people. 

Wherever  the  Bible  is  put  into  the  language  of 
the  common  people  and  widely  read,  there  will 
necessarily  be  great  changes  of  thought,  and  much 
intellectual  activity.  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  col- 
lected many  manuscripts,  and  in  1516  issued  a  new 
edition  of  the  Greek  New  Testament.  He  then 
translated  the  text  into  elegant  Latin,  which  pleased 
the  scholars,  who  began  to  put  the  Holy  Scriptures 
into  the  various  languages  of  Europe.  In  the  Swiss 
republic,  the  Christian  people,  through  reading  the 
Bible,  became  convinced  that  society  and  the  church 
ought  to  be  thoroughly  reformed  for  the  better. 
They  noticed  at  once  the  difference  between  the 
extravagance  and  the  usurpation  of  authority  by 
the  princes  in  both  Church  and  State,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  Jesus  and  the  primitive  church.  Such  a 
contrast  seemed  too  great,  and  as  displeasing  to  God 
as  it  was  bad  for  men. 

These  "Brethren,"  nicknamed  "Anabaptists," 
were  at  first  persecuted  by  both  Protestants  and 
Catholics.  Driven  out  of  Switzerland,  they  fled 
to  the  Netherlands.  Soon  they  and  their  doctrines 
had  so  spread  into  other  countries,  that  all  western 


96        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Europe  was  more  or  less  moved  by  the  new  ideas. 
Some  of  these  Brethren  abused  their  freedom. 
They  became  so  outrageous  in  their  excesses  that 
no  civilized  society  could  tolerate  them.  But  when 
Me nno  Simons  of  Friesland  trained  and  organized, 
and  William,  the  stadholder  of  Zealand,  shielded  and 
tolerated,  these  independents  in  religion,  they  be- 
came a  quiet,  orderly,  and  influential  people  called 
the  Mennonites. 

These  forerunners  of  American  freedom  held  to 
most  of  the  ideas  which  now  belong  to  enlightened 

c5  O 

Christianity  and  the  nineteenth  century.  Yet  no 
one  would  ever  suppose  this 'from  the  misrepresen- 
tations of  their  enemies  in  unrevised  reference 
books.  They  believed  not  only  in  the  separation 
of  Church  and  State,  in  "  soul  liberty  "  or  freedom  of 
conscience,  the  abolition  of  religious  persecution,  in 
the  right  and  ability  of  Christian  people  to  govern 
themselves,  but  also  in  prison  reform,  in  the  salva- 
tion of  infants  and  of  the  pious  heathen,  in  home 
and  foreign  missionary  work,  in  the  removal  of  the 
death-penalty  for  crime,  in  the  abolition  of  slavery 
and  serfdom,  and  in  the  education  of  women. 
Menno  Simons  and  William  of  Orange,  as  well  as 
Calvin  and  Luther,  are  the  spiritual  ancestors  of 
modern  democracy. 

It  was  these  free-church  Christians  who  wrought 
the  first  reformatory  influences  among  the  common 


FREE   CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA.       97 

people  of  the  Netherlands  and  Great  Britain. 
Their  teachings  were  actively  propagated  in  Eng- 
land as  early  as  the  year  1525.  By  the  year  1550, 
these  had  become  so  widely  disseminated  among 
the  English  people,  that  it  was  thought  necessary 
by  the  government,  which  was  a  political  and 
ecclesiastical  combination,  to  appoint  a  great  com- 
mission of  bishops  and  others  to  hunt  down 
the  Separatists,  and  have  them  tried  and  burned. 
European  statesmen  in  that  age  thought  that  this 
was  the  best  way  of  preserving  the  church,  that  is, 
by  the  cremation  of  all  nonconformists.  Neverthe- 
less, these  free  churchmen  increased,  and  out  of 
them  have  grown  three  or  more  of  the  greatest 
Christian  denominations  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  Other  Christians,  who  have  been  taught 
to  despise  the  "  Anabaptists,"  now  look  upon  them 
as  true  spiritual  ancestors.  Slaughtered  by  the  tens 
of  thousands,  these  fearless  thinkers,  who  honestly 
tried  to  put  in  practice  the  teachings  of  the  Bible, 
prepared  the  way  for  modern  civilization. 

In  England  the  reformation  came  on  in  three 
great  waves  from  the  Continent.  The  first  move- 
ment was  propagated  by  the  ultra-democratic  free 
churchmen;  the  second  by  the  Lutherans,  who  were 
led  by  princes;  and  the  third  by  the  democratic 
Calvinists.  King  Henry  VIII.  made  the  national 
church  independent  of  the  Roman  Pontiff.  In 


98        THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION, 

the  north  of  England,  which  was  then  much 
poorer  and  more  sparsely  settled  than  in  the  south, 
there  were  reactions  in  favor  of  the  old  forms  of 
religion.  In  one  great  uprising,  called  "  The  Pil- 
grimage of  Grace,"  the  people,  led  by  discontented 
nobles,  gathered  in  arms.  Mobs  entered  the 
churches,  flung  the  Bible  out  of  the  windows,  set 
up  the  cross,  and  clamored  for  the  old  festivals  and 
monasteries.  King  Henry  marched  up  from  the 
south  and  put  down  the  rebellion  with  an  iron 
hand.  For  months  the  executioners,  with  axe, 
sword,  and  rope,  were  kept  busy.  The  horrible 
sight  of  corpses  on  gibbets  made  both  a  terror  to 
the  mind  and  an  offence  to  the  senses. 

Under  Bloody  Mary  the  reaction  was  in  the  other 
direction.  She  put  hundreds  of  people  of  the  Re- 
formed faith  to  death,  while  thousands  more  fled 
from  England  to  the  Continent.  In  Embden, 
Frankfort,  and  Geneva,  the  Puritan  parties  were 
formed  and  theories  elaborated.  Yet  when  these 
reforming  Englishmen  came  back  home,  they  found 
that  Queen  Elizabeth  wanted  no  Puritans,  but 
everything  in  Church  and  State  uniform.  She 
persecuted  both  the  Puritans  and  the  Roman 
Catholics.  When  the  people  again  arose  with 
arms,  in  the  movement  called  "  The  Uprising  of 
the  North,"  she  crushed  this  with  blood  and  iron 
and  "  covered  the  whole  country  with  gibbets." 


FREE    CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA.       99 

All  free  churchmen  caught  in  her  realm  were 
imprisoned,  hanged,  or  burnt  to  death. 

In  Scotland,  however,  the  Puritans  won  per- 
manent victory.  The  Bible  became  the  national 
text-book,  the  Psalms  the  Scottish  hymn-book,  and 
family  worship  the  rule.  Robert  Burns'  poem  "  The 
Cotter's  Saturday  Night "  is  the  epic  of  Scotland. 
The  Scottish  people  are  pervaded  with  democratic 
ideas,  quite  different  from  the  aristocratic  and  semi- 
feudal  spirit  which  still  has  possession  of  English 
society.  What  breeds  in  Americans  hatred  to  the 
wrong  side  of  England,  which  has  led  to  two  wars 
and  might  have  led  to  others,  is  that  also  which 
nonconformists  or  free  churchmen  in  England  also 
hate  and  fiorht.  All  orood  and  true  Americans  love 

o  o 

and  reverence  the  nobler  England,  whose  good 
ways  and  works  we  are  proud  to  imitate.  Next  to 
England,  perhaps,  America  is  indebted  most  for 
good  men  and  women,  in  both  numbers  and  quality, 
to  Scotland. 

Indirectly  the  beautiful  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  had 
much  to  do  with  the  gathering  of  that  English 
company  of  free  churchmen  in  North  England, 
afterwards  known  as  the  Pilgrims,  and  with  their 
flight  to  Holland,  their  crossing  the  ocean  in  the 
Mayflower,  and  the  settlement  of  Massachusetts. 
We  must  therefore  mention  her  name  first,  when 
we  introduce  them.  Once  almost  invisible  in  the 


TOO       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

world's  eye,  these  Scrooby  villagers  loom  colossal  in 
American  history. 

When  Mary  married  Bothwell,  only  three  months 
after  her  first  husband,  Lord  Darnley,  had  been 
killed,  the  Scottish  people  rose  up  in  arms  against 
her.  She  fled  into  England,  to  lie  in  prison  eigh- 
teen years,  and  to  become  the  centre  of  a  network 
of  Romish  plots.  When  her  son,  James  VI.  of 
Scotland,  was  made  king,  the  envoys  of  France 
came  to  Edinburgh  to  persuade  him  to  enter  into 
an  alliance  against  England.  It  was  then  necessary 
for  Queen  Elizabeth  to  prevent  such  a  dangerous 
union  of  forces.  So  in  1583  she  sent  her  trusted 
counsellor  William  Davison,  an  Englishman  of 
Scottish  descent,  to  hinder  the  alliance  and  in  place 
of  it  to  form  a  British  league  of  friendship. 

In  the  England  of  that  day  there  were  no  roads,  as 
we  understand  the  term  now;  for  there  were  then  very 
few  wheeled  wagons,  and  even  these  had  no  springs. 
Such  things  as  pleasure  carriages  were  almost  un- 
known, or  were  brand-new  curiosities  introduced 
from  the  Continent.  In  the  whole  country,  out- 
side the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  few  large 
cities,  there  were  only  horse  tracks  or  paths.  Four 
of  these,  being  very  long,  were  called  "  highroads," 
—  one  going  south  from  London  to  Dover,  whence 
men  sailed  to  France  and  the  Continent;  one  south- 
westward  to  Plymouth,  where  lay  the  royal  ships ; 


FREE    CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA.       IOI 

one  westward  through  Wales,  by  which  one  crossed 
over  to  Ireland.  The  Great  North  Road,  longest  of 
all,  ran  into  Scotland.  Women  rarely  travelled  so 
far,  and  when  they  did  it  was  on  horseback.  There 
were  no  post-offices  or  mail-routes  for  the  people, 
but  at  certain  distances  along  these  royal  highroads 
were  relays  or  inns  where  the  post-riders  who  car- 
ried the  government's  despatches  could  get  entertain- 
ment for  man  and  horse  over  night.  Keepers  of 
these  inns  were  called  "posts,"  who  had  ready  a 
certain  number  of  horses,  in  order  to  help  forward 
the  king's  business.  The  later  days  of  stage-coaches, 
and  the  still  more  modern  era  of  excellent  common 
roads  and  of  iron  railways,  have  totally  changed  not 
only  the  methods  of  travel,  but  also  the  face  of  the 
country.  The  work  done,  in  drainage  and  embank- 
ments, since  engineering  has  been  elevated  into 
a  profession,  has  converted  thousands  of  acres  of 
deadly  miasmatic  swamp  into  fertile  fields. 

In  the  time  of  Elizabeth  the  keeper  of  the  relay 
at  the  little  place  called  Scrooby  was  named  Brews- 
ter.  He  had  a  bright  boy  named  William,  who  at 
that  time  was  a  student  at  Cambridge.  The  youth 
was  probably  home  from  a  vacation  when  the  queen's 
envoy  William  Davison  came  along.  As  it  was  in 
January  and  probably  cold  and  muddy,  it  may  be 
that  Davison  stayed  all  night  and  told  young  Brews- 
ter,  as  they  sat  around  the  great  hearthstone,  before 


IO2      THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

the  blazing  chimney,  of  the  rich  cities  of  the  Nether- 
lands, —  then  so  much  more  magnificent  than  those 
in  England,  —  and  of  his  many  adventures  in  the 
mighty  continental  world  beyond  the  little  island 
ruled  by  Elizabeth.  It  may  be  that  Davison  asked 
young  Brewster  how  he  would  like  to  accompany 
the  queen's  envoy  and  thus  see  the  Continent, 
should  the  opportunity  come.  How  can  we  imagine 
anything  else  than  that  the  young  student  would 
want  to  see  the  world  ?  What  youth  does  not  long 
to  travel  ? 

William  Brewster  did  not  have  to  wait  long;  for 
only  two  years  later,  when  the  lion-hearted  Queen 
Elizabeth  had  agreed  to  help  the  Dutch  in  their  war 
of  independence  against  Spain,  Davison  was  sent 
to  the  capital  of  the  republic  at  The  Hague.  Then 
young  Brewster  took  his  first,  but  not  his  last,  sea- 
voyage.  Landing  at  Flushing,  he  saw  this  fortified 
town  well  garrisoned  with  Scottish,  English,  Irish, 
and  Welsh,  as  well  as  Dutch  troops.  He  beheld 
many  wonderful  sights  while  abroad,  but  what  he 
learned  was  even  more  important  for  a  man  whom 
Providence  was  educating  to  be  one  of  the  founders 
of  Massachusetts.  The  Dutch  were  then  in  advance 
of  the  world  in  initiating  and  working  out  many 
things  which  we  associate  with  America,  because 
we  suppose  them  to  have  been  invented  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic. 


FREE    CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA.       103 

Brewster  saw  seven  states  united  in  a  single  re- 
public, having  a  Congress  or  States-General  and 
a  commander-in-chief,  who  commanded  the  Union 
army  and  who  was  also  governor  of  several  of  these 
states.  Printing  and  the  press  were  free,  as  they 
were  not  in  England.  Books  and  papers  could  be 
published  with  wonderful  freedom.  The  poor  were 
cared  for  far  better  than  in  Brewster's  own  country. 
Hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  and  homes  for  the  aged 
were  very  numerous.  There  was  not  only  a  great 
university  with  high  schools  and  public  common 
schools,  but  these  were  supported  by  public  taxa- 
tion and  in  them  the  poor  received  instruction  free. 
There  was  no  persecution  on  account  of  religion, 
but  Jews,  Catholics,  Calvinists,  Lutherans,  and  Ana- 
baptists were  tolerated  and  dwelt  in  peace  together. 
Brewster  learned  a  good  deal  about  federal  govern- 
ment. He  was  also  powerfully  influenced  reli- 
giously by  his  patron,  who  was  a  Puritan.  Having 
lived  long  among  the  Dutch,  Davison  had  imbibed 
many  of  their  ideas  of  religious  freedom.  He 
treated  young  Brewster  more  as  a  son  than  a  ser- 
vant. When  the  Dutch  government  handed  over 
the  iron  keys  of  the  three  cautionary  towns,  Davi- 
son transferred  them  to  Brewster,  and  the  young 
student  slept  with  them  under  his  pillow.  Having 
concluded  his  business,  carrying  back  to  England 
about  half  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  jewellery  and 


IO4       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

silver  plate,  which  the  Dutch  people  had  given  up 
as  security  for  the  loan  of  English  money,  Davison 
was  honored  by  the  Congress  with  a  gold  chain,  but 
this  he  put  upon  the  neck  of  his  page  to  wear. 

Coming  back  to  merry  England,  Davison  was 
made  the  queen's  Secretary  of  State.  William 
Brewster  spent  some  time  at  the  Court,  seeing  the 
queen  and  her  gay  lords  and  ladies.  For  a  while 
it  looked  as  if  he  had  a  brilliant  political  future  be- 
fore him  and  might  become  a  high  officer  of  state, 
but  as  his  fortune  was  linked  with  Davison's,  and 
Davison's  with  that  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots, 
Brewster's  political  career  soon  ended.  Under  the 
discipline  of  Providence  he  became  a  Separatist,  a 
Pilgrim,  and  one  of  the  makers  of  America.  When 
this  unfortunate  captive  lady  was  executed  by  the 
queen's  own  orders,  Elizabeth  contrived  to  throw 
the  blame  upon  Davison.  His  fortunes  fell,  and 
he  found  himself  a  prisoner  and  impoverished. 
In  1590  young  William  Brewster  gave  up  all  his 
dreams  of  court  life  and  returned  to  Scrooby.  Had 
the  beautiful  Scottish  queen  lived,  or  died  long 
afterward  in  her  bed,  the  story  of  New  England 
might  have  been  different. 

In  his  new  home,  his  father  being  ill,  Brewster 
carried  on  the  duties  of  innkeeper  and  relay  agent. 

On  his  father's  death,  in  1603,  he  was  appointed 
"post."  He  had  great  influence  in  the  neighbor- 


FREE    CHURCHMEN  IN  EUROPE  AND  AMERICA.       105 

hood,  and  succeeded  in  getting  godly  Puritan  minis- 
ters in  the  pulpits.  Soon  he  had  gathered  together 
those  of  like  mind  with  himself  to  form  a  new 
church.  Sometimes  he  would  go  with  them  over 
to  Gainesborough,  ten  miles  to  the  eastward,  and 
there  hear  the  kind  of  sermons  which  he  enjoyed. 
A  Puritan  in  morals,  Brewster  in  church  polity 
held  to  that  doctrine  of  the  Anabaptists  or  free 
churchmen  which  declared  that  Church  and  State 
should  be  kept  apart,  and  that  only  those  persons 
should  be  considered  members  of  Christ's  church 
and  partakers  of  the  communion  who  lived  holy 
lives.  By  the  year  1605,  Brewster  and  his  com- 
panions, among  whom  was  William  Bradford,  who 
lived  at  Austerfield,  a  mile  or  two  north  in 
Yorkshire,  invited  the  Rev.  John  Robinson,  a 
Separatist,  who  had  lived  among  the  Dutch 
Anabaptists  at  Norwich,  to  come  and  be  their 
minister. 

It  could  not  now  long  be  concealed  that  these 
people,  who  worshipped  frequently  in  the  old 
Scrooby  manor  house,  were  Separatists,  who  had 
withdrawn  from  the  national  or  political  church. 
They  were  dubbed  "  Brownists "  because  Robert 
Browne  of  Norwich  first  taught  in  English  the  doc- 

o  o 

trines  of  the  "  Anabaptists "  or  free  churchmen. 
Driven  from  Norwich,  where  the  Dutch  Mennon- 
ites  were  numerous,  Browne  went  to  Middelburg 


106       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

in  Zealand,  where  they  swarmed,  where  they  first 
received  toleration  from  William  of  Orange,  and 
where  printing  was  free.  Browne's  books  were 
secretly  circulated  in  England,  though  men  caught 
selling  them  were  burnt. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

IN    THE    LAND    WHERE    CONSCIENCE    WAS    FREE. 


of  the  eater  came  forth  meat"  was  Sam- 
son's   riddle.     It  was  like  the  bees  makine 

o 

honey  in  the  skeleton  of  the  lion  which  the  young 
Nazarite  had  slain,  for  the  Separatists  to  form  their 
church  in  the  very  meeting-house  owned  by  their 
persecutor,  the  archbishop  of  York,  who  had  politi- 
cal powers  like  a  sheriff.  The  free  churchmen 
make  a  clear  distinction  between  a  church  and  the 
edifice  in  which  it  meets,  the  one  being  made  of 
souls  and  the  other  of  stone,  brick,  or  wood.  In 
that  wainscoted  room  of  the  Scrooby  manor  house, 
New  England  began.  As  some  of  the  worshippers 
walked  many  miles  to  come  to  Scrooby,  Brewster, 
who  rented  the  grounds  and  building,  often  enter- 
tained them  at  his  own  charge. 

At  last  the  bishop's  spies  and  informers  ferreted 
out  these  "  Brownists."  Being  watched,  as  Brad- 
ford says,  "  they  could  not  long  continue  in  a  peace- 
able condition,  but  were  hunted  and  persecuted  on 
every  side.  Some  were  taken  and  locked  up  in 
prison,  others  had  their  houses  beset  and  watched 
night  and  day,  and  hardly  escaped  their  hands  ;  and 

107 


IO8      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

the  most  were  fain  to  fly  and  leave  their  houses  and 
habitations  and  the  means  of  their  livelihood." 

A  few  miles  to  the  southwest  of  Scrooby  village 
is  the  town  of  Worksop,  where  the  writer's  ancestors, 
the  Eyres,  lived,  and  further  down  in  the  same  shire 
is  Newark,  where  one  of  them,  named  Gervaise 
Eyre,  commander  of  the  king's  castle  during  the 
Civil  War,  was  slain.  The  Eyres  and  the  Nevilles 
were  kinsmen,  and  it  was  "  Gervaise  Nevyle "  of 
Scrooby  who  was  the  first  of  the  Separatist  com- 
pany arrested  by  the  bishop's  spies  and  put  into 
jail,  on  the  charge  of  being  a  "  Brownist." 

Bradford's  record  means  that  the  company  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  caring  more  for  liberty 
of  conscience  than  for  comfort  or  even  life,  tried  to 
get  to  the  land  where  they  knew  that  conscience 
was  free.  After  walking  over  the  muddy  roads 
some  miles  southwestwardly  to  Boston  in  Lincoln- 
shire, they  were  betrayed  by  the  treacherous  Eng- 
lish captain,  who  was  to  carry  them  to  Holland,  and 
robbed  and  thrown  into  jail;  but  as  the  Boston 
magistrates  were  Puritans,  they  were  soon  released. 
It  must  have  been  a  hard  winter  for  them  while 
waiting  for  another  opportunity  to  escape;  for  the 
laws,  which  were  very  severe  against  them,  as  Sep- 
aratists from  the  political  church,  and  which  had 
been  originally  aimed  against  the  Catholics,  made 
it  criminal  to  leave  England  without  official  license. 


7.V    THE    r.AND    IV II EKE    CONSCIENCE    WAS  FREE.      IOQ 

Nevertheless,  in  the  springtime,  they  engaged  a 
Dutch  captain  to  meet  them  on  the  shore  between 
Great  Grimsby  and  Hull.  Most  of  the  males  walked 
across  the  country,  but  the  women  and  children 
with  a  few  men  took  boats  at  Bawtry  and  dropped 
clown  the  Trent.  When  the  Zealander  arrived 
with  his  ship,  the  women  were  seasick,  the  boats 
stranded,  and  the  tide  low.  One  boatful  of  the  men 
had  got  on  board,  when  down  the  hill  rushed  a  great 
company  of  men  on  horse  and  foot  with  arms  enough 
for  a  battle.  To  save  himself  and  ship,  the  Dutch- 
man hoisted  anchor  and  sails  and  left,  getting  into 
a  great  storm.  For  two  weeks  the  poor  landsmen 
were  tossed  on  the  sea,  while  those  left  on  land 
were  haled  from  one  magistrate  to  another  and 
finally  released.  At  length,  all  got  safely  to  Am- 
sterdam. 

Over  a  century  and  a  half  later,  when  illiterate 
English  house-painters  renovated  the  faded  swing- 
ing signs  of  the  wayside  inns  and,  instead  of  "  The 
League  of  Seven  States,"  painted  "  The  Leg  and 
Seven  Stars,"  and  when  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  were  at  war,  John  Paul  Jones,  a  regu- 
larly commissioned  American  naval  officer,  captured 
off  the  coast  near  the  place  of  the  Pilgrims'  flight 
a  brigantine  named  the  Mayflower. 

The  Scrooby  refugees  lived  one  year  in  Amster- 
dam, where  there  were  other  English  congregations. 


IIO      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

They  then  went  to  Leyden  for  greater  peace  and 
comfort.  In  this  fair  and  beautiful  city,  they  were 
at  first  quite  poor,  but  they  held  together  in  good 
fellowship.  Being  faithful  and  industrious,  they 
were  able  in  1612  to  buy  a  large  lot  of  ground  and 
build  on  it  twenty-three  small  houses,  and  one  large 
one  for  their  minister.  Their  settlement  was  in 
Bell  Alley,  just  across  from  St.  Peter's  church. 
Behind  them  was  the  British  Presbyterian  church. 
To  their  right  was  the  French  church,  out  of  which 
came  the  Walloon  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  settled 
New  Netherland.  To  their  left  was  the  city  com- 
mandery  or  garrison  house  where  Miles  Standish 
was  probably  on  duty.  The  English  Separatists 
lived  midway  between  the  Broadway  with  its  City 
Hall  and  the  Rapenburg  canal,  by  the  side  of  which 
was  the  University. 

Other  people  of  like  ways  of  thinking  came  from 
Great  Britain  and  joined  them,  so  that  they  soon 
numbered  three  hundred.  During  the  years  from 
1610  to  1620,  during  which  they  lived  in  this  "fair 
and  beautiful  city  of  a  sweet  situation,"  as  Bradford 
calls  it,  probably  as  many  as  eighty  marriages  were 
made  between  the  men  and  women  in  the  company. 
Possibly  as  many  as  a  hundred  children  were  born, 
who  grew  up  to  speak  Dutch  and  to  understand 
and  like  the  ways  of  the  people  and  country.  Very 
probably  some  of  these  children  attended  the  Dutch 


77V   THE  LAND    WHERE    CONSCIENCE    WAS  FREE.      \  \  \ 

free  public  schools.  It  is  likely  that  every  year 
they  took  part  with  the  citizens  of  Leyden  in  the 
October  Thanksgiving  Day,  when  deliverance  from 
the  Spaniards  was  celebrated.  This  was  done  first 
by  worship  in  the  church,  and  then  by  eating  a  good 
dinner,  in  which  the  meal  called  "hotch-pot"  — 
beef  or  mutton  and  vegetables  stewed  together  — 
was  one  of  the  chief  attractions.  Our  "  hodge- 
podge "  is  only  a  corruption  of  the  Dutch  "  hotch- 
pot." The  iron  pot,  left  behind  by  the  Spaniards 
when  forced  to  retreat  by  the  waters  let  in  from  the 
broken  dikes,  had  been  brought  into  Leyden  by  a 
Dutch  boy  named  Gisbert  Cornellissen.  It  was  then 
and  is  still  kept  as  a  precious  relic.  The  Dutch 
Thanksgiving  Day,  like  ours,  began  as  a  festival  of 
good  cheer,  gratitude,  and  worship.  In  time  it  de- 
generated into  a  mere  holiday  such  as  our  own  is 
fast  becoming. 

O 

Some  of  the  Pilgrim  men  became  citizens  of  the 
municipal  republic  of  Leyden,  and  thus  learned  all 
about  federal  and  republican  government.  Brews- 
ter,  whom  we  remember  to  have  been  in  the 
Netherlands  before,  set  up,  with  the  aid  of  his 
friend,  Brewer,  a  printing  press  and  printed  books 
and  pamphlets  which  they  sent  over  to  Scotland 
and  England,  just  as  Robert  Browne  had  done. 
Indeed,  this  was  the  great  hope,  ever  cherished 
by  Robinson  and  his  associates,  that  they  would  be 


112       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

able  from  Holland,  by  means  of  free  printing,  to 
spread  their  principles  of  Independency  in  Great 
Britain.  Had  they  been  able  to  do  this,  they  would 
probably  never  have  come  to  America. 

King  James  considered  these  "  Brownist "  pam- 
phlets as  incendiary  documents.  He  peremptorily 
ordered  his  ambassador,  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  at 
The  Hague,  to  use  every  effort  to  get  the  Pilgrim 
Press  in  Choir  Alley  broken  up.  By  lobbying  in 
the  Dutch  Congress  and  manipulating  the  whole 
line  of  national,  state,  and  city  authorities,  from  the 
councilman  to  the  stadholder,  Carleton  succeeded. 
The  types  were  seized,  and  the  printing  office  closed. 
This  was  an  awful  blow  to  the  whole  Pilgrim 
Company ;  for  they  could  no  longer  expect  to  in- 
fluence friends  in  Enq-land  and  thus  brino^  about 

O  O 

the  better  times  which  they  died  without  seeing, 
but  which  we  behold  to-day. 

This  failure  of  their  missionary  hopes  was  what 
first  seriously  turned  the  Pilgrim  thoughts  towards 
emigration,  though  Jesse  de  Forest  was  their  next- 
door  neighbor  and  they  had  already  known  of  his 
plans  and  American  enterprise.  If  they  could  not 
print  their  books  and  pamphlets,  then  they  could 
not  do  very  much  toward  converting  Englishmen 
to  their  ideas ;  so  they  began  to  inquire  where 
they  could  go  and  help  to  make  a  better  England. 
There  were  other  things  which  disturbed  their 


IN   THE  LAND    WHERE    CONSCIENCE  WAS  FREE.      113 

peace  of  mind,  and  made  them  long  for  life  else- 
where, with  opportunity  for  spreading  abroad  their 
teachings.  Above  all  other  things,  the  Pilgrims  de- 
sired to  be  missionaries  and  work  out  their  ideas 
of  church  government  and  Christianity,  without 
either  aid  or  opposition  from  the  state. 

Many  of  their  sons,  who  liked  Holland  and  what 
the  Dutch  were  fighting  for,  enlisted  in  the  Union 
army  or  navy.  Or  they  went  off  to  voyages, 
loving  adventure  and  attracted  by  the  prospect  of 
gain.  Others  married  Dutch  girls  and  settled 
down  in  the  country.  Their  daughters  married 
Dutchmen,  and  so  it  seemed  as  though,  if  they 
stayed  in  Holland,  they  would  soon  lose  their  native 
language  and  be  lost  among  the  Dutch  people. 
Being  Puritans  and  country  people,  they  did  not 
approve  of  the  free  and  joyous  way  in  which  the 
Dutch,  who  hated  the  late  Jewish  notions  about 
the  Sabbath,  kept  the  Lord's  Day.  Then,  too, 
the  truce  with  Spain  was  to  be  over  in  1621,  and 
they  might  be  involved  in  the  sufferings  and  hor- 
rors of  one  of  the  cruellest  of  wars ;  for  the  Span- 
iards were  no  better  then  in  the  Netherlands  in 
putting  down  what  they  called  a  rebellion,  than 
they  are  in  suppressing  one  in  Cuba.  So  these 
free  churchmen  began  to  talk  seriously,  and  the 
youngsters  to  dream  of  the  romance  of  American 
colonization. 


114      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

During  the  peace  there  was  tremendous  excite- 
ment, both  religious  and  political,  in  the  whole 
country  and  especially  in  Leyden.  The  Calvinists 
and  the  Arminians  were  quarrelling  over  theologi- 
cal questions.  When  these  got  into  politics,  they 
took  the  form  of  State  Sovereignty  as  against  the 
supremacy  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  of 
possible  secession  versus  the  Union.  The  two 
parties  named  Remonstrants  and  contra-Remon- 
strants  were  then  arrayed  in  deadly  enmity  against 
each  other.  The  Pilgrims  were  stanch  Calvinists 
and  Union  men,  but  the  great  excitements  through 
which  they  passed,  not  only  during  the  Dutch 
troubles,  but  also  in  the  attempts  of  King  James 
and  his  ambassador,  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  to  destroy 
them,  must  have  been  powerfully  educative  and 
given  them  a  tough  moral  fibre  which  fitted 
them  to  be  the  nobler  builders  of  a  commonwealth. 
Thus  were  Brewster,  Bradford,  Winslow,  Carver, 
Allerton,  and  others  trained  in  a  free  republic. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  first  application  of  the  Ley- 
den  Company  was  made  to  the  New  Netherland 
Trading  Company,  but  before  the  answer  of  the 
National  Government  denying  two  ships  of  war  for 
a  convoy,  offers  had  come  from  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany in  England.  One  of  its  members,  quite  prob- 
ably Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  brother  of  Brewster's  old 
landlord  at  Scrooby,  and  one  of  the  most  liberal  of 


IN   THE  LAND    WHERE    CONSCIENCE    WAS  FREE.      115 

English  statesmen,  who  opposed  the  bad  king  and 
the  Spanish  influence,  lent  the  Leyden  people  three 
hundred  pounds  sterling  without  interest,  for  three 
years.  This  meant  to  these  poor  people  a  sum  now 
equal  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  in  a  time  when  there 
was  not  one  bank  in  England,  and  when  the  rates 
of  interest  were  like  those  in  barbarous  countries 
to-day,  where  men  have  to  pay  from  thirty  to  sixty 
per  cent.  Later  on,  the  Pilgrims  actually  borrowed 
money  at  "  usury  " ;  that  is,  fifty  per  cent  interest. 

It  was  resolved  that  the  youngest  and  the  strong- 
est of  the  Leyden  congregation  should  first  go  to 
New  Netherland  and  start  a  colony.  If  Providence 
seemed  to  approve  of  their  undertaking,  then  the 
others,  including  the  middle-aged  and  the  old,  would 
come  out  also,  if  they  could,  —  that  is,  if  they  were 
not  hindered  by  their  intolerant  king  and  the  big- 
oted people  in  the  London  Company,  who  hated 
"  Brownists."  How  wonderful  and  exciting  must 
have  been  the  dreams  of  the  Pilgrim  lads  and  lassies 
from  the  day  of  decision  ! 

It  was  on  July  22,  1620,  that  the  pioneer  party 
left  Delfshaven  on  the  Maas  River,  fourteen  miles 
south  of  Leyden,  in  the  little  ship  Speedwell,  reach- 
ing Southampton  a  few  days  later.  There  they 
met  the  larger  vessel,  the  Mayflower,  from  London. 
For  the  first  time  many  of  the  young  folks  looked 
upon  old  England. 


CHAPTER   X. 

PLYMOUTH     PLANTATION. 

THE  Leyden  church  had  sent  one  or  two  agents 
over  to  England  to  secure  a  ship  and  provisions 
and  make  agreement  about  work  for  the  company, 
shares,  payment,  etc.  Now  they  found  that  matters 
for  the  colony  had  been  arranged  in  a  very  dis- 
tasteful way,  and  besides  they  had  to  sell  off  most 
of  their  butter  and  all  their  beer  in  order  to  pay 
their  debts  and  clear  the  harbor.  Even  then  they 
were  poorly  equipped.  However,  the  two  ships 
started.  The  Speedwell  soon  began  to  leak,  and 
they  had  to  put  in  at  Dartmouth,  and  again  at 
Plymouth,  losing  both  time  and  money.  After  get- 
ting well  into  the  Atlantic,  the  rascally  captain  of 
the  Speedwell,  who  did  not  want  to  cross  the  ocean, 
declared  she  was  unseaworthy.  So,  turning  back  to 
Plymouth,  the  weakest  of  the  company  were  put  on 
the  Speedwell  and  sent  back  to  London,  while  the 
strongest  and  bravest,  numbering  one  hundred  and 
two  persons,  started  on  the  large  ship  for  a  voyage 
in  the  stormiest  time  of  the  year. 

When  in  mid-ocean  the  frame  of  the  Mayflower 

116 


PL  YAfO  UTH  PLANT  A  TION.  \  \  y 

was  so  strained  by  the  chopping  waves  and  the 
terrible  winds,  that  one  of  the  great  supporting 
beams  of  the  ship  was  drawn  out  of  place.  Then 
it  seemed  as  though  the  vessel  would  go  to  pieces. 
Fortunately,  one  of  the  passengers  had  a  piece  of 
Dutch  hardware  on  board,  which  had  been  invented 
some  years  before.  This  was  called  a  domme- 
kratcht,  or,  as  we  say,  a  "  jack  screw."  By  this,  the 
stout  beam  was  forced  into  place,  and  being  held  by 
an  iron  band  and  supported  by  a  post,  the  ship  was 
made  safe  again.  Then  they  calked  the  seams  and 
tried  to  keep  dry  and  comfortable ;  but  shut  up  in 
the  foul  air  by  the  horrible  weather,  and  then  after- 
wards much  exposed  to  the  raw  winds  and  cold,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  seeds  of  quick  consumption 
were  planted  in  their  constitutions. 

Expecting  first  to  see  Sandy  Hook  and  to  disem- 
bark near  the  Hudson  River,  the  Pilgrims  made  land- 
fall at  Cape  Cod.  Instead  of  a  lovely  land  robed  in 
the  verdure  and  flowers  of  late  summer  or  early 
autumn,  they  beheld  leafless  trees  through  which 
the  chill  winds  of  November  roared  and  whistled, 
with  pines  and  cedars. 

Yet  pilot  Coppin,  who  had  been  once  across  the 
Atlantic,  had  not  made  a  mistake  in  his  original 
reckoning,  but  something  had  carried  the  Mayflower 
too  far  north,  just  as  it  had  done  Verrazano  many 
years  before.  What  was  the  mystery?  Coppin,  and 


Il8       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

many  who  like  him  mistook  their  course,  could  not 
then  tell.  Foolish  people  long  afterward,  with  that 
shameful  prejudice  against  the  Dutch  which  so 
many  Americans  have  inherited  from  Englishmen 
and  their  wars,  like  to  think  that  the  pilot  of  the 
Mayflower  was  "  bribed  by  the  Dutch." 

The  truth  is,  that  men  did  not  know  anything 
then  about  the  Gulf  Stream,  which  probably  never 
was  understood  until  after  the  time  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who  was  the  first  to  study  it  philosophi- 
cally. This  great  blue  stream  of  warm  water  flowing 
northward  had  disturbed  Verrazano's,  as  it  did  Cop- 
pin's,  calculations.  The  captain  of  the  Mayflower 
tried  to  sail  southward  around  Cape  Cod,  but  could 
not  get  the  Mayflower  through  the  rough  waters, 
shoals,  and  quicksands.  Thankful  to  escape  ship- 
wreck, the  Pilgrims  gladly  turned  back  and  the 
Mayflower  found  anchorage  off  the  point  where 
Provincetown  now  lies.  Here,  in  the  summer  of 
1897,  was  unveiled  a  monument  in  honor  of  this 
historic  ship  and  her  heroic  passengers. 

It  was  a  mixed  company  on  board  the  Mayflower. 
In  the  first  place,  there  were  rough  sailors;  some  of 
them  were  very  profane  and  heartless.  The  captain 
and  mates  did  not  care  to  remain  one  day  longer 
than  necessary  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  they 
gave  their  passengers  hints  that  they  must  soon  get 
ashore.  Then,  the  colonists  had  expected  to  settle 


PL  YMO  U  TH  PLANT  A  TION.  1 1 9 

in  New  Netherland  or  within  the  limits  claimed  by 
the  London  Virginia  Company,  but  had  been  com- 
pelled by  the  Gulf  Stream,  or  by  Providence,  to 
settle  in  these  northern  regions  of  the  Plymouth 
Company,  for  which  they  had  no  patent.  They 
were,  therefore,  without  any  authority  or  means  of 
government.  Some  of  the  uncertain  characters  on 
board,  who  were  rather  free  with  their  tongues,  were 
already  giving  out  that  when  on  land  they  were 
going  to  do  pretty  much  as  they  pleased.  Perhaps 
the  every-day  morality  of  the  Pilgrim  Company  was 
a  little  too  severe  for  them. 

It  was  necessary  to  agree  upon  some  form  of 
government.  So  in  the  cabin  of  the  little  ship  the 
leaders  met  together  and  in  the  name  of  God  and 
as  loyal  subjects  of  the  superstitious  monarch  that 
hated  them,  and  whom  they  called  the  "  King  of 
France,"  as  well  as  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
and  even  nominated  "  the  defender  of  the  faith," 
they  covenanted  and  combined  themselves  together 
into  a  civil  body  politic.  They  promised  all  due 
submission  and  obedience  to  such  laws  and  offices 
as  should  be  enacted.  To  this  document,  probably 
laid  upon  the  lid  of  a  chest,  forty-one  names  out  of 
the  sixty-five  adult  passengers  then  on  the  ship 
were  signed.  Governor  Carver  was  made  head  of 
the  colony.  This  compact,  since  copied  in  bronze 
and  cut  in  stone  and  made  the  theme  of  poetry  and 


120      THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

oratory,  was  the  natural  result  of  the  provisions 
already  made  by  the  company  in  London. 

Several  weeks  were  spent  in  exploring  the  coun- 
try by  sending  out  parties  on  land  and  over  the 
waters  in  the  shallop.  Among  the  adventures  were 
the  finding  of  corn,  the  remains  of  an  old  fort,  the 
graves  of  two  Europeans,  and  many  evidences  of 
the  Indians,  such  as  deer  traps,  deserted  wigwams, 
trails,  and  old  maize  fields.  They  had  one  skirmish 
with  the  Indians,  in  which  no  one  was  hurt.  One 
party  spent  a  Sunday  on  Clark's  Island. 

One  of  the  first  things  done  was  by  the  women, 
who  went  ashore  to  wash  clothes.  Men  and  boys 
helped  them  to  build  fires,  with  sweet-smelling 
juniper  or  cedar  wood,  and  to  bring  fresh  water 
from  a  spring  on  the  beach.  Thus  was  begun  the 
great  American  Monday  wash-day. 

It  was  not  until  the  2ist  of  December,  in  the 
stormy  weather,  that  they  landed  and  began  their 
settlement  at  what  Captain  John  Smith  had  already 
named  Plymouth.  Here  were  a  brook  of  fresh 
water,  cultivated  land,  and  a  fairly  good  site  for  a 
town,  with  a  hill  near  by  for  a  fort,  just  as  at  Ley- 
den.  On  the  shore  lay  a  boulder,  one  of  the  very 
few  large  stones  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood, 
which  had  taken  a  ride  on  some  prehistoric  glacier 
or  iceberg  and  had  thus  been  carried  down  from 
regions  farther  north  in  Canada.  This  they  made 


PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION.  121 

their  first  wharf  or  landing-place,  the  tradition  be- 
ing that  Mary  Allerton  was  the  first  woman  who 
stepped  upon  it. 

The  men  went  daily  to  and  from  the  ship,  in  the 
wet  and  stormy  weather,  occasionally  remaining  sev- 
eral days  and  nights  on  land,  but  every  day  working 
hard,  putting  up  log  houses  and  covering  them 
with  thatch.  As  in  all  new  colonies,  there  were 
great  dangers  from  fire,  for  evidently  these  people 
were  not  accustomed  to  build  houses  and  to  make 
good  chimneys ;  but  though  the  roofs  were  several 
times  burnt  off,  the  log  walls  remained  unhurt. 
The  settlement  at  Plymouth  was  a  good  deal  like 
that  in  Leyden,  with  houses  in  rows,  with  one  wide 
street  between,  and  the  hill  fort,  in  which  they 
mounted  their  four  little  cannon.  Their  food  was 
rather  poor,  but  they  managed  to  vary  it  with  a  few 
wild  ducks  and  geese.  The  provisions  and  stores 
were  landed  and  put  under  shelter,  late  in  January, 
by  which  time  they  had  roofed  the  Common  House, 
which  was  at  once  filled  with  the  sick  and  dying. 
It  was  not  until  late  in  February  that  their  fort  was 
in  sufficiently  good  order  to  be  considered  capable 
of  withstanding  an  attack.  No  human  being  of 
the  country  visited  them,  until  the  middle  of  March. 

By  this  time  contagious  consumption  had  broken 
out,  which  quickly  carried  off  whole  families  and 
diminished  their  number  nearly  one-half;  so  that 


122       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

only  a  few  able-bodied  men  were  left.  Neverthe- 
less, when  the  Mayflower  went  away,  not  one  of  the 
colonists  returned  in  her.  Even  the  ship  became  a 
pest-house ;  for  many  of  the  sailors  that  were  living 
in  the  germ-infested  quarters  of  the  late  passengers 
sickened  and  died.  With  such  brutal  and  profane 
sailors  in  a  floating  coffin,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
Pilgrims,  even  if  any  of  them  had  a  longing  to  run 
the  risk  of  imprisonment  and  death  at  the  hands 
of  their  country's  rulers,  preferred  to  trust  in  God 
and  stay  on  the  bleak  shores  of  Massachusetts. 

The  coast  of  Maine  was  at  this  time  much  re- 
sorted to  by  European  fishing  vessels,  and  Boston 
harbor  and  the  region  of  Cape  Cod  were  among  the 
most  frequently  visited  portions  of  the  American 
coast-line.  The  French  and  the  Dutch,  having 
made  explorations  and  mapped  the  country,  often 
paid  visits.  English  kidnappers  and  slave-traders 
were  also  frequent  and  dangerous.  They  seized  the 
Indians  and  sold  them  as  laborers  and  galley  slaves 
to  Spain.  Such  acts  made  the  Indians  very  hostile 
to  white  men.  No  red  men  lived  near  Plymouth, 
for  a  great  plague  had  broken  out  a  few  years 
before,  so  that  no  natives  disputed  ownership  of 
the  soil.  Indeed,  both  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  for 
the  most  part,  took  it  for  granted  that  all  the  land 
belonged  to  King  James,  and  to  themselves  as 
representing  him. 


PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION.  123 

It  was  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  March,  1621,  a  few 
days  before  the  whole  company  finally  came  ashore, 
that  the  first  native  American,  tall  and  straight, 
without  moustaches  or  whiskers,  and  almost  naked, 
except  for  a  little  fringed  leather  around  his  waist, 
suddenly  appeared  in  Leyden  street.  He  held  in 
one  hand  a  bow  and  in  the  other  two  arrows.  Open- 
ing his  mouth,  he  said  "  Welcome."  This  was  Sam- 
oset,  who  became  the  interpreter  and  friend  of  the 
colonists  ;  for  he  had  learned  some  English  when  on 
board  Captain  Dermer's  ship.  He  was  first  served 
with  food  and  drink,  greatly  enjoying  his  European 
refreshments.  Then  he  told  his  story  and  the  his- 
tory of  the  place. 

Samoset  returned  to  Plymouth  a  few  days  later, 
with  five  other  tall  and  sturdy  savages  partly  dressed 
in  deer  and  panther  fur.  As  Gypsies  were  the  only 
dark-skinned  men  the  Pilgrims  had  seen,  and  Irish 
hose  the  only  garments  for  the  legs  reaching  from 
the  ankles  to  the  waist,  —  for  the  Pilgrims  wore 
knickerbockers  or  knee-breeches  and  stockings,  — 
they  thought  the  Indians  looked  like  Gypsies  and 
wore  Irish  trousers. 

Other  visits  were  from  an  Indian  named  Squanto, 
who  had  been  in  London,  and  from  Massasoit  and 
his  warriors.  These  were  entertained  at  Plymouth, 
and  thus  friendly  relations  began.  The  Indians 
helped  the  white  men  and  taught  them  many  use- 


124       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATIOi\\ 

ful  things,  especially  in  the  matter  of  getting  food. 
These  Europeans  had  probably  never  seen  corn 
before  and  did  not  understand  its  cultivation. 
Squanto  showed  them  how  to  catch  the  fish  called 
alewives  and  to  plant  corn  in  hills,  putting  a  fish 
with  the  seed  so  as  to  manure  the  soil,  which  was 
sandy  and  poor.  He  also  gave  them  an  object- 
lesson  by  going  down  to  the  shore  and  with  his 
feet  pressing  out  the  eels,  and  in  some  cases  catch- 
ing fish  without  hook  or  net.  In  various  other 
ways,  friendly  Indians  were  very  helpful.  These 
emigrants  did  not  know  the  American  climate ; 
for  they  planted  some  of  their  best  seeds  in  the  soil 
in  February,  because  the  weather  seemed  to  be 
warm.  In  this  they  were  at  least  two  or  three 
months  ahead  of  time. 

When  autumn  was  at  hand,  Governor  John  Car- 
ver was  dead,  and  William  Bradford  had  succeeded. 
The  crops  had  been  gathered.  Long  accustomed 
to  Thanksgiving  days  in  Leyden,  they  determined 
to  have  one  of  their  own.  So  Governor  Bradford 
sent  out  four  or  five  lusty  young  fellows  with  their 
firelocks,  and  the  wild  turkey  being  abundant  and 
game  fat,  enough  birds  were  shot  to  furnish  the 
colonists  for  nearly  a  week.  The  Indians,  being 
more  expert  in  shooting  and  trapping  deer,  provided 
the  venison.  Both  natives  and  new-comers  enjoyed 
several  days  of  sport  and  feasting,  though  praise  to 


PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION.  125 

God  was  not  forgotten.  The  white  musketeers  and 
the  red  archers  shot  at  a  mark  and  sat  side  by  side 
along  the  boards  spread  with  well-cooked  game  and 
savory  dishes  which  the  wives  and  maidens  of  the 
Pilgrims  provided.  Thus  was  begun  what  has 
grown  to  be  our  national  Thanksgiving  Day. 

Amid  the  rigors  of  the  climate,  homesickness, 
rough  work  and  hardships  of  the  new  life,  and  the 
difficulty  of  getting  enough  food,  these  pioneers 
failed  in  flesh  and  color.  The  survivors  of  the 
original  Mayflower  company  must  have  seemed  an 
emaciated  and  shabbily  dressed  lot  of  people, 
when  the  Anne  and  Little  James,  the  next  ships  of 
the  Pilgrim  fleet,  came  in.  Indeed,  the  first  two  or 
three  years  were  those  of  severe  struggle  against 
famine,  hostile  Indians,  rattlesnakes,  mosquitoes, 
seventeen-year  locusts,  and  various  other  troubles. 
As  the  years  went  on,  however,  the  splendid  faith, 
the  unfailing  courage,  and  the  unremitting  industry 
of  these  brave  men  and  women  had  their  reward. 
Harvests  improved,  more  land  was  won  to  the  plough, 
cattle  were  imported,  and  new  colonists  joined 
them. 

Between  1620  and  1630  about  three  hundred 
emigrants,  all  told,  came  to  Plymouth,  bringing 
colonists  from  Holland  and  from  England.  Most 
of  these  were  honest,  industrious,  sober,  and  law- 
abiding  'people.  Nevertheless,  the  bigoted  party 


126       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

among  the  London  Adventurers  prevented  John 
Robinson  from  coming  over  and  in  other  ways 
troubled  the  Plymouth  people,  because  they  were 
Independents  in  church  government.  The  Advent- 
urers even  tried  to  force  ministers  of  the  political 
church  of  England  upon  these  free  churchmen,  but 
in  this  they  did  not  succeed.  In  1626  the  Plym- 
outh leaders  bought  out  the  share  of  the  London 
Company,  and  in  a  few  years  owned  all  their  own 
habitations  and  stock.  When  they  learned  from 
the  Dutch  the  art  of  using  wampum  or  Indian  shell- 
money,  trade  with  the  red  men  mightily  improved 
and  they  became  quite  comfortably  settled,  with  a 
reasonable  share  of  this  world's  goods. 

Their  former  neighbors  in  Leyden,  the  Walloons 
and  Dutch,  now  living  on  Manhattan  Island,  wished 
to  open  neighborly  communication,  and  in  1627  sent 
their  secretary,  Isaac  de  Rasieres,  to  Plymouth. 
He  came,  bringing  his  trumpeter  and  several  com- 
panions, besides  cloth,  sugar,  and  other  things  which 
the  Pilgrims  wanted  and  which  they  paid  for  in 
other  commodities,  including  tobacco.  Best  of  all, 
in  this  visit  they  learned  the  valuable  secret  of 
Indian  currency,  by  which  they  were  enabled  to 
open  fresh  markets  at  a  much  greater  profit.  Those 
Indians  east  of  the  Hudson  River  and  north  of  Long 
Island  Sound  were  Algonquins,  speaking  a  different 
language  from  the  Iroquois.  The  Five  Nations  oc- 


PLYMOUTH  PLANTATION.  1 27 

cupying  New  Netherland  were  a  more  highly  civil- 
ized body  of  men.  These  used  tokens  or  pieces 
of  shells  drilled,  polished,  and  strung  together,  for 
money  in  trade  and  also  for  the  making  of  his- 
torical documents  to  assist  their  memory.  At  first, 
the  eastern  Indians,  not  accustomed  to  wampum, 
did  not  take  it  up  very  rapidly,  but  before  long  the 
Pilgrims  could  not  get  enough  of  it.  Just  as 
tobacco  in  Virginia  gave  settled  prosperity,  so,  from 
about  the  time  of  their  use  of  wampum,  the  Plym- 
outh men  had  no  further  anxiety  about  food  or 
income. 

The  greatest  of  their  troubles  arose  from  the 
presence  of  various  bad  characters  "  shuffled  in " 
among  them,  as  Bradford  says.  From  time  to  time 
English  kidnappers  and  slave-traders,  treacherous 
redskins  and  bad  men,  like  Morton  of  Merrymount, 
gave  much  anxiety  to  the  godly  colonists.  But 
Bradford's  wisdom  and  firmness,  Standish's  alert- 
ness and  courage,  Winslow's  diplomacy  and  skill  in 
dealing  with  all  sorts  of  men,  and  John  Alden's 
faithful  service  made  a  combination  of  talents  that 
extricated  the  colony  out  of  all  difficulties  and 
secured  a  success  that  impressed  the  world. 

In  their  history  of  life  in  and  flight  from  Eng- 
land, their  eleven  years'  mellowing  and  tempering 
in  the  Dutch  republic,  and  in  their  demonstration 
that  men  from  different  countries  and  of  various 


128       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

shades  of  religious  belief  could  live  together  in  peace, 
Plymouth  colony  was  a  type  of  the  United  States. 
In  this  cosmopolitan  company  were  representa- 
tives of  at  least  seven  nations,  —  English,  Scottish, 
Welsh,  Irish,  French,  Walloon,  and  Dutch, — while 
among  them  were  rigid  Anglicans,  stern  Puritans, 
bold  radicals  like  Roger  Williams,  Roman  Catholics 
like  Miles  Standish,  and  men  of  other  beliefs  from 
differing  religious  communities.  Yet  the  Pilgrims, 
though  lofty  in  morals,  were  sweet  in  temper,  toler- 
ant to  various  faiths,  and  withal  full  of  common 
sense.  Considering  all  things,  they  showed  grandly 
how  Christian  men  could  live  in  harmony  when 
united  in  great  principles. 

To  most  readers  the  poetic  side  is  also  the  his- 
toric side  of  Plymouth  Plantation.  It  appears -in 
Longfellow's  picture-poem  of  "  The  Courtship  of 
Miles  Standish,"  which  George  H.  Boughton  has 
reproduced  on  his  glowing  canvases.  Happy  the 
Pilgrim  fathers  and  mothers  and  happy  *  their  de- 
scendants, that  they  escaped  the  caricaturist  before 
tradition  had  set  and  history  had  revealed  the  full 
truth  concerning  all  of  our  forefathers. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS. 

"  IVfOTHING  succeeds  like  success."  It  is  mas- 
1  ^  terful  precedents  that  move  men  to  dare  and 
do.  More  than  anything  else  it  was  the  fact  that 
the  Pilgrims  had  established  Plymouth  colony  in 
prosperity,  that  led  a  great  Puritan  migration  from 
England  and  colonies  from  Scotland,  which  settled 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  with  people  from 
the  four  nations  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  among  whom  also  were  Dutch- 
men, Huguenots,  Germans,  and  other  nationalities. 
In  the  English  home  land,  the  condition  of  the 
Puritans  was  becoming  daily  more  intolerable. 
James  Stuart  seemed  to  be  falling  into  bottomless 
bigotry  and  Archbishop  Laud,  his  minion,  who  was 
very  much  the  same  kind  of  a  fanatic  that  may  be 
found  in  Mohammedan  countries,  was  filling  the 
English  jails  with  Christians  who  would  not  con- 
form to  the  political  church.  The  Scottish  people 
seemed  able  to  resist  the  machinations  of  King 
James,  who  said  that  he  would  compel  all  his  sub- 

129 


I3O      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

jects  to  conform  or  else  harry  them  out  of  the 
country.  In  England  the  elements  were  gathering 
for  the  great  civil  war  which  was  to  divide  England 
into  hostile  camps  and  bring  a  law-defying  monarch 
to  the  block.  This,  however,  Charles  I.  little 
anticipated  when  he  became  king  in  1635.  Ignor- 
ing Parliament  and  trampling  on  the  constitution, 
he  tried  to  rule  the  country  with  the  aid  of  such 
creatures  as  Laud. 

Besides  political  and  church  troubles,  there  was 
also  much  agricultural  and  commercial  distress. 
These  things  conspired  to  make  Englishmen  will- 
ing to  leave  their  own  country,  and  try  their  fortunes 
where  the  fisheries  were  so  rich,  furs  so  abundant, 
trade  promising,  agriculture  excellent,  gold  to  be 
found,  and  silk  possibly  to  be  made.  Societies 
were  formed  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  emigra- 
tion to  America.  In  1626  Roger  Conant  and  the 
"  Old  Planters  "  began  the  settlement  of  Salem.  In 
1628  another  company  of  Puritans,  two  hundred  or 
more,  led  by  John  Endicott  of  Dorchester,  crossed 
the  ocean,  hoping  to  find  rest  from  persecution. 
They  landed  on  the  north  or  "  Puritan  Shore,"  of 
Boston  Bay,  and  Salem  soon  became  a  thriving  place. 
The  old  wooden  meeting-house  of  1634  is  still  kept 
in  this  city,  which  is  now  the  Mecca  of  the  antiqua- 
rian and  lover  of  history,  and  in  which  Hawthorne 
began  writing  those  classic  romances  of  Puritan 


THE    GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  131 

life,    including   "The    Scarlet    Letter"   and   "The 
House  of  the  Seven  Gables." 

These  people  of  the  "  Bay  Colony"  did  not  at 
first  separate  from  the  church  of  England.  They 
were  Puritans  of  the  sternest  type,  not  having  the 
spirit  of  toleration  like  the  Pilgrims,  who  had  dwelt 
twelve  years  in  a  country  where  conscience  was 
free.  Indeed,  Endicott  hated  the  very  idea  of 
religious  liberty.  He  cut  the  cross  out  of  the 
English  flag,  because  he  thought  it  savored  of 
Romanism. 

When  Charles  I.  kept  on  in  his  tyrannical  course, 
the  whole  of  the  London  Company  determined  to 
move  in  a  body  over  the  ocean  and  take  themselves, 
their  charter,  and  their  government  to  America. 
Thus  a  great  host  of  emigrants  led  by  John 
Winthrop,  who  was  appointed  governor  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, came  in  a  fleet  of  eleven  vessels,  on 
board  of  which  were  seven  hundred  settlers,  with 
horses,  cattle,  tools,  clothes,  and  other  abundant 
equipment  for  maintaining  a  colony.  These  people 
were  not  poor  like  the  Pilgrims.  Most  of  them 
were  wealthy,  and  many  of  them  highly  educated, 
and  of  excellent  social  and  intellectual  culture. 
They  arrived  not  in  the  depth  of  winter,  but  in  the 
height  of  summer,  when  strawberries  were  ripe  and 
flowers  fragrant  and  abundant.  Everything  seemed 
lovely  and  well  calculated  to  give  cheering  first  im- 


132       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

pressions.  The  ships  named  the  Talbot,  the  George, 
the  Lioiis  Whelp,  the  Fotir  Sisters,  and  the  May- 
flower were  all  large  and  fine  craft,  some  of  three 
hundred  tons'  burthen.  They  were  well  loaded 
with  supplies  of  fully  made  suits  of  clothing,  seeds, 
grain,  wine,  fishing  nets,  and  fowling-pieces.  Mili- 
tary equipments,  such  as  drums,  flags,  spears,  plenty 
of  powder  and  shot,  were  not  forgotten ;  for  not  a  few 
of  these  Puritans  had  been  soldiers  in  the  Dutch 
wars.  Among  the  colonists  were  skilled  farmers, 
gardeners,  men  who  could  make  pitch  and  salt,  iron- 
workers, surgeons,  barbers,  prospectors  for  minerals, 
engineers,  and  surveyors. 

Not  liking  Salem,  Winthrop  settled  at  Charles- 
town,  where  at  first,  on  account  of  the  poor  water, 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  sickness,  but  right  across 

O  O 

the  bay  there  was  an  inviting  piece  of  land.  This 
was  shaped  like  a  lily,  with  a  long  narrow  stem 
going  back  to  the  mainland.  On  this  ground  were 
three  hills.  The  Indians  named  the  place  Shawmut, 
which  probably  means  the  place  near  the  neck,  re- 
ferring to  the  peninsula,  though  some  connect  its 
meaning  with  water.  The  English  called  the  place 
Tri-Mountain,  which  has  since  become  Tremont. 
They  soon  erected  a  beacon  on  the  highest  hill  to 
guide  the  ships  coming  in  the  harbor.  Hence  the 
name  Beacon  Hill,  and  Beacon  Street.  There  was 
plenty  of  good  fresh  water  at  Shawmut,  and  an 


THE    GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  133 

English  hermit  named  Blackstone  lived  here,  who 
invited  Winthrop  and  his  fellow-Puritans  to  come 
over  and  make  the  place  their  home.  They  did  so, 
and  the  settlement  was  soon  afterward  named 
Boston,  after  the  old  St.  Botolph's  town  on  the 
\Vitham,  in  England. 

This  Puritan  emigration,  on  so  large  a  scale,  gave 
to  Massachusetts  an  advantage  which  no  other  of 
the  colonies  possessed,  or  was  to  possess ;  that  is,  the 
early  settlement  of  a  very  large  number  of  fairly 
well-to-do  and  intelligent  people  of  one  race,  lan- 
guage, and  general  way  of  thinking,  within  a  small 
space  of  territory.  By  this  providential  concurrence 
of  forces,  tremendous  and  enduring  moral  and  intel- 
lectual influences  were  generated  which  have  borne 
rich  fruit  in  our  nation. 

In  England,  it  seemed  to  some  that  the  country 
would  be  depopulated  if  the  rage  of  emigration  con- 
tinued. Probably  as  many  as  twenty  thousand 
English  emigrants  came  over  before  1640.  In  the 
fifteen  years  from  1630  to  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War  in  1645,  more  people  came  from  Old  to 
New  England  than  afterwards  came  between  1645 
and  1775.  Among  the  highly  educated  people  were 
between  eighty  and  one  hundred  clergymen,  gradu- 
ates mostly  of  Cambridge.  Often  it  happened  that 
those  on  board  the  ships  lying  in  the  Fleet  River, 
before  going  out  in  the  Thames,  had  friends  or 


134       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

kinsmen  in  the  Fleet  prison,  put  there  for  con- 
science' sake.  At  last  the  government  interfered  "to 
restrain  the  disorderly  transporting  of  his  Majesty's 
subjects  .  .  .  whose  only  or  principal  end  is  to  live 
beyond  the  reach  of  authority."  Next  day  an  order 
appeared  to  stay  eight  ships  then  in  the  Thames, 
and  their  passengers  were  compelled  to  disembark. 
Among  those  who  started  to  sail  for  Massachusetts, 
but  had  to  get  off  ship,  was  Oliver  Cromwell.  The 
Puritans  in  America  very  early  in  their  history  be- 
came Separatists  from  the  Anglican  Establishment. 
Largely  because  of  the  direct  influence  of  the  Pil- 
grims, they  became  Independents  in  religion  like 
the  Plymouth  men,  but,  unlike  the  latter,  they  united 
Church  and  State. 

There  was  very  little  of  real  democracy  in  the 
Bay  Colony,  but  much  of  aristocracy;  for  only  church 
members  had  a  right  to  vote.  In  theory,  all  public 
matters  were  discussed  and  voted  on  in  town  meet- 
ing, that  is,  a  town  meeting  of  the  church  members, 
or  Puritans.  These  Puritans  could  not  tolerate  the 
men  of  other  ways  of  thinking,  like  the  Quakers 
and  the  Baptists  who  came  among  them,  whom 
they  beat,  branded,  or  hanged.  They  even  dubbed 
the  Plymouth  colonists  "  Brownists  "  or  "  Anabap- 
tists," and  looked  with  more  or  less  contempt  upon 
them.  Both  in  Holland  and  America,  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  were  better  treated  by  the  Dutch  than  by 


THE   GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  135 

the  Puritans.  Toleration  is  a  virtue  which  Ameri- 
cans have  not  learned  from  England,  or  from  the 
Puritans  of  New  England.  For  the  origins  of  the 
religious  liberty  which  we  enjoy,  we  must  look  to 
the  Anabaptists,  William  the  Silent,  and  the  Dutch 
republic. 

The  concentration  of  most  of  the  people  near  the 
seacoast  was  partly  a  necessity  and  partly  for 
advantage.  The  soil  not  being  especially  fertile, 
large  farms  like  those  in  Virginia  were  unknown. 
Many  of  the  people  had  come  chiefly  for  the 
purpose  of  fishing.  Shipbuilding  and  commerce 
soon  flourished.  The  Blessing  of  the  Bay  was 
launched  in  1630.  Quite  early  in  the  history  of  the 
colony,  large  fleets,  with  thousands  of  men,  found 
employment  and  wealth  in  the  Newfoundland  fish- 
eries. The  codfish  became  a  symbol  of  the  new 
riches,  giving  its  name  to  the  aristocracy  whose 
fathers  had  drawn  treasures  out  of  the  sea.  A 
golden  codfish  hangs  to-day,  as  the  emblem  of 
colonial  wealth,  in  the  halls  of  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  which  was  then  and  is  still  called 
the  General  Court. 

It  was  quite  common  to  see  shipyards  and  farms 
alternating  along  the  seacoast,  and  even  to  see  ship- 
building going  on  in  front  of  a  farm,  between  the 
crops  and  the  blue  water.  Prepared  lumber,  in  the 
form  of  staves  for  barrels,  were  sent  over  to  the  old 


136      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

country.  American-built  ships  were  sold  in  Europe. 
Friday  food  was  supplied  to  the  southern  nations. 
When  commerce  was  opened  with  the  West  Indies, 
sugar  and  molasses  were  abundantly  imported.  The 
frequency  of  candy  stores  was  early  noted,  while 
New  England  rum,  made  from  the  juice  of  sugar- 
cane, became  a  common  drink,  that  was  enjoyed  by 
all,  from  the  parson  to  the  day  laborers.  Too  free 
indulgence  in  the  extract  of  molasses  led  to  many 
scandals  and  furnished  the  stocks  with  many  a  vic- 
tim. Not  a  little  trade  was  done  in  slaves.  One  of 
the  industries  was  the  making  of  manacles  for  the 
supply  of  the  African  man-stealers  and  traders  in 
human  flesh. 

The  intolerant  ideas  which  the  Puritans  brought 
with  them  and  which  were  common  to  almost  all 
countries  in  Europe,  except  Holland,  soon  had  its 
legitimate  results.  The  Puritans  were  not  only 
very  rigid  in  their  ideas  of  possessing  the  earth  so 
as  to  expel  all  intruders  who  did  not  agree  with 
them,  but  they  also  ignored  all  claims  of  the  Indians 
to  the  soil.  They  believed  their  land  tenure  was 
from  the  Almighty,  through  King  James.  In  1631 
Roger  Williams  arrived  at  Nantasket.  He  was  a 
radical  who  claimed  that  no  one  should  be  bound 
to  maintain  worship  against  his  own  consent,  and 
that  the  land  belonged  to  the  Indians  and  they 
ought  to  be  paid  for  it. 


THE    GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  137 

These  were  ideas  which  lay  at  the  basis  of  the 
Dutch  republic  and  their  colony  in  New  Nether- 
land,  but  such  free  utterances  seemed  very  danger- 
ous. Fearing  that  King  James  might  take  away 
their  charter  and  otherwise  molest  them,  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay  Colony  ordered  Williams  to  leave 
the  colony.  He  found  refuge  for  a  little  while  in 
Plymouth.  There,  Bradford  and  other  men  of  like 
spirit  greatly  enjoyed  his  preaching,  despite  his 
radical  notions,  for  Roger  Williams,  take  him  all 
in  all,  was  a  very  lovely  character,  a  true  Christian 
with  little  stiffness  or  formality  in  his  ways,  and  of 
a  winsome  character. 

Travelling  through  the  snow  of  winter,  Williams 
went  among  the  Indians,  who  welcomed  him,  while 
he  learned  their  language.  In  the  springtime  he 
reached  Narragansett  Bay,  the  region  which  the 
Dutch  had  already  named  Rood  Eilandt  (Red 
Island),  which  has  since  become  Rhode  Island. 
Five  friends  joined  him  and  they  built  a  shelter  on 
the  Seekonk  River.  But  the  Plymouth  men,  who 
in  some  respects  were  as  greedy  of  land  as  the 
Puritans,  and  respected  neither  Dutch  nor  Indian 
claims,  notified  him  that  the  region  he  had  chosen 
was  under  their  control  and  intimated  that  he  must 
move  on.  So,  getting  into  their  canoe,  these  apos- 
tles of  "  soul  liberty  "  dropped  down  the  river  and 
coming  in  front  of  the  flat  ledge  of  rock,  which  is 


138       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

now  at  the  foot  of  Powers  Street  in  the  city  of 
Providence,  they  heard  the  Indians  call  out  two 
words,  learned  from  the  English,  "  What  cheer !  " 
Thus  welcomed  and  led  by  the  first  dwellers  on  the 
soil,  Williams  and  his  friends  found  a  hill  and  a 
spring  of  excellent  water.  There  they  began  a 
settlement,  named,  in  gratitude  to  God,  Providence, 
which  has  become  the  second  city  of  the  Eastern 
states. 

It  was  not  long  before  others  joined  Roger  Will- 
iams ;  and  the  colony  of  Providence  soon  became  a 
place  very  agreeable  to  those  seeking  "  permission 
of  differing  consciences,"  for  here  men  were  awarded 
the  same  liberty  as  in  the  Dutch  republic.  Protes- 
tants of  all  sorts,  Catholics,  Jews,  Agnostics,  and 
Secularists  were  protected,  just  as  in  the  land  be- 
hind the  dikes.  This,  the  less  liberal-minded  peo- 
ple on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  could  so  little 
understand,  that,  just  as  they  had  called  Holland 
and  Amsterdam  all  kinds  of  opprobrious  names  and 
the  Pilgrims  "  Brownists,"  because  of  the  liberty  of 
conscience  granted,  so  they  dubbed  Rhode  Island 
"  The  Land  of  Crooked  Sticks."  This  was  because 
there  were,  along  with  many  persons  of  excellent 
character,  some  odd  and  strange  specimens  of  hu- 
man nature.  Yet,  although  Ro^er  Williams  is 

o  o 

called  the  founder  of  soul  liberty,  he  did  nothing 
more  than  expand  and  put  in  practice  ideas  which 


'"WHAT  CHEER?"' 


THE    GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  139 

he  had  already  learned  from  the  people  of  the  re- 
public, with  whose  history  he,  like  Lord  Baltimore, 
was  well  acquainted,  and  with  whose  language  he, 
like  William  Penn,  was  so  familiar. 

The  next  person  to  come  into  contact  with  colo- 
nial intolerance  was  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson,  a  pure 
woman  of  much  intellectual  power.  She  attacked 
especially  the  formalism  and  what  she  thought  to 
be  the  hypocrisy  of  the  clergymen,  whose  stiff  and 
precise  ways  she  evidently  did  not  like.  For  such 
a  character  as  she,  who  preached  and  taught  her 
ideas  very  vigorously,  there  was  then  no  room  in 
Massachusetts.  The  General  Court,  after  deciding 
that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  "like  Roger  Williams  or 
worse,"  banished  her.  With  others  in  sympathy 
with  her,  she  left  for  the  south,  where,  in  1638,  with 
William  Coddington  they  bought  Rhode  Island 
from  the  Indians  and  began  the  colonies  of  Ports- 
mouth and  Newport,  which  were  later  followed  by 
that  of  Warwick.  This  lady,  the  mother  of  fifteen 
children,  left  Rhode  Island  in  1642  and  settled  in 
New  Netherland.  There  she  and  her  family  were 
slain  by  the  Indians. 

Roger  Williams  was  too  much  of  a  Christian 
to  nurse  any  grudge  against  his  persecutors,  and 
he  gave  them  a  splendid  object-lesson  in  prac- 
tical Christianity.  When  the  Pequot  Indians  in 
eastern  Connecticut  not  only  plotted  to  destroy  the 


140      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

white  men  who  had  settled  near  them,  but  also  in- 
trigued with  the  Narragansetts  to  attack  Boston 
and  the  surrounding  towns,  Williams'  influence  in 
this  tribe  was  so  great  that  he  was  able  to  dissuade 
them  from  taking  the  war-path  and  thus  to  save  the 
Bay  Colony  from  grave  peril. 

By  1644  the  colonists  had  greatly  increased  in 
the  region  of  Providence  and  Newport,  and  liberal 
ideas  and  rulers  being  then  in  authority,  Williams 
wrent  to  England  and  secured  a  charter  which  ^ave 

O  O 

the  people  the  right  to  frame  a  government  accord- 
ing to  their  own  ideas,  provided  they  were  loyal  to 
the  supreme  authority  in  England,  under  which  the 
united  colonies  formed  a  province  called  Rhode 
Island.  This  charter  was  later  confirmed  and  re- 
mained the  constitution,  even  until  the  year  1842. 

Rhode  Island,  more  than  any  other  colony  or 
state,  partly  because  of  her  small  size,  but  primarily 
because  of  her  founder,  carried  out  most  consist- 
ently and  steadily  the  idea  of  absolute  religious 
freedom.  Here  in  the  Western  world,  the  Hebrews 
first  found  welcome,  peace,  and  prosperity. 

The  very  flower  of  English  Puritanism  having 
left  England  and  settled  in  Massachusetts,  it  was 
natural  that  so  many  people  of  education,  among 
whom  there  were  hundreds  of  men  who  had  trav- 
elled in  the  Netherlands,  and  had  seen  the  free 
common  schools  in  that  country,  should  be  earnest 


THE    GREAT  PURITAX  EXODUS.  141 

for  popular  as  well  as  the  higher  education.  As 
early  as  1635,  it  was  resolved  to  establish  a  public 
school  in  Boston.  This  was  two  years  later  than 
the  school  founded  on  Manhattan  Island,  which 
is  still  in  existence.  In  1836  the  General  Court 
voted  four  hundred  pounds,  or  what  would  now 
be  equal  to  about  four  thousand  dollars,  to  found 
at  Newton,  or  later  Cambridge,  what  is  now  Har- 
vard University.  When,  in  1638,  the  Rev.  John 
Harvard  left  his  library  and  about  three  thousand 
dollars  to  the  college,  it  was  named  after  him. 
To  the  maintenance  of  this  magnificent  institu- 
tion—  magnificent  in  its  origin,  as  well  as  in  this 
time  of  world-wide  fame — the  New  England  peo- 
ple always  contributed  their  generous  support. 

Printing  presses  and  type  were  brought  over 
from  Holland,  and  books,  many  of  which  are  now 
famous  in  history,  were  printed  on  the  college 
press.  Other  private  and  public  libraries,  increas- 
ing with  that  of  Harvard,  have  brought  together 
in  eastern  Massachusetts  the  largest  collections  of 
books  on  this  continent.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
about  nine-tenths  of  the  writers  of  American  his- 
tory have  done  most  of  their  work  within  a  cir- 
cuit of  ten  miles  from  the  Massachusetts  State 
House,  and  that  American  history,  as  thus  far 
written  and  popularly  read  and  believed,  is  rather 
a  history  of  New  England,  with  some  notices  of 


142       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

parts  adjacent  and  beyond,  than  of  the  whole 
United  States  of  America,  and  of  the  people  and 
forces  which  united  to  make  our  country. 

Like  that  of  the  Swedish  and  German  nations, 
the  Dutch  Calvinists,  the  Catholics  of  Maryland, 
and  the  Pilgrims  of  New  Plymouth,  one  great 
idea  of  the  Puritans  in  founding  Harvard  Col- 
lege was  to  convert  the  Indians  to  Christianity. 
Following  the  good  example  of  the  Lutheran 
Fabricius  in  Delaware,  and  of  Domine  Megapo- 
lensis,  the  Rev.  John  Eliot,  in  Massachusetts,  began 
studying  Algonquin,  and  was  soon  able  to  preach 
in  that  tongue.  He  gave  his  hearers  long  ser- 
mons, which  were  probably  no  longer  than  the 
harangues  of  their  sachems,  but  he  encouraged 
them,  the  braves  with  tobacco,  and  the  squaws 
with  apples.  Eliot  even  translated  the  Bible, 
which  few  persons  now  can  read ;  for  in  the  Indian, 
as  in  all  languages  except  dead  ones,  words  be- 
come obsolete,  because  human  speech  is  a  living 
growth. 

Probably  as  many  as  a  hundred  Indian  words 
have  become  part  of  our  English  tongue.  Not 
only  are  "tomahawk,"  "moccasin,"  "caucus,"  and 
"  mugwump "  familiar  to  us,  but  so,  also,  are 
many  names  of  famous  chiefs  and  tribes.  Our 
mountains  and  our  rivers  still  reecho  their  sono- 
rous aboriginal  Indian  names,  while  most  of  our 


THE   GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  143 

local  poetic  legends  and  American  mythology 
have  descended  to  us  from  the  red  men.  We 
are  "debtors  not  only  to  the  Greeks,  but  to  the 
barbarians,"  not  only  to  old  and  new  Europeans, 
but  also  to  the  primitive  Americans. 

Among  the  other  great  gifts  of  the  red  men 
to  civilization,  which  have  mightily  helped  in  the 
development  of  this  continent  and  the  white  race, 
are,  their  skill  in  getting  food  out  of  the  sea  and 
soil,  by  hand,  trap,  or  craft ;  their  great  trails  and 
paths ;  their  methods  of  agriculture ;  their  articles 
of  vegetable  food,  such  as  succotash,  pumpkins, 
and  corn ;  their  medicines  and  remedies,  ginseng, 
various  roots  and  products  of  the  forest;  the 
moccasin,  the  snowshoe,  the  birch-bark  canoe,  — 
all  of  them  most  valuable  means  of  exploration, 
trade,  and  communication.  The  political  proced- 
ure of  the  Indians  must  certainly  have  informed 
and  stimulated  our  fathers ;  for  the  caucus,  the 
confederacy,  and  other  ideas  learned  from  the 
senators  of  the  forest  have  become  part  of  our 
own.  The  friendship  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy, 
first  of  five  and  then  of  six  nations,  which  rose  like 
a  dike,  impregnable  to  all  assaults  of  French  craft 
or  force,  bribery  or  subtlety,  was  one  of  the  great 
decisive  elements  for  winning  this  continent  to 
Germanic  civilization  or,  as  we  like  to  say,  to 
Anglo-Saxon  ideas. 


144      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

In  all  their  education,  however,  the  Puritans 
did  not  easily  learn  the  lesson  of  tolerance ;  for  the 
Bay  Colony  was  mostly  under  the  rule  of  the 
clergy.  Lawyers  were  next  to  unknown,  and  physi- 
cians as  yet  had  scarcely  any  social  standing.  It 
was  not  until  the  time  of  Cromwell  that  even 
surgeons  began  to  have  an  official  position  in  the 
army.  When  the  people  called  Quakers  arose  in 
1656,  it  seemed  to  the  Puritans  as  if  the  Anabap- 
tists had  come  to  life  again.  Two  Quaker  women, 
on  landing  in  Boston,  were  at  once  clapped  into 
jail  and  their  books  burnt,  while  they  were  sent 
back  by  the  first  returning  ship.  Nevertheless, 
days  of  fasting  and  prayer  that  were  called  failed 
to  bar  them  out,  and  the  Friends  kept  on  coming. 
The  trouble  was,  that  some  of  these  Quakers  were 
rather  violent  in  their  behavior.  They  seemed 
to  be  a  little  better  than  anarchists.  They  would 
not  use  the  ceremonies  of  society  or  uncover  their 
heads  before  the  magistrates,  and  in  those  clays 
when  pomp  and  ceremony  were  considered  almost 
a  part  of  religion,  this  seemed  to  be  an  insult  to 
authority  itself.  The  Friends  would  not  take  oath 
in  a  court  of  justice,  but  literally  obeyed  the  com- 
mand of  Christ  as  to  yea  and  nay.  They  would 
not  pay  taxes  to  support  the  state  church,  which 
was  Congregational  in  form,  nor  would  they  enter 
military  service  or  bear  arms  in  their  own  defence. 


THE    GREAT  PURITAN  EXODUS.  145 

William  Penn  had  not  one  musket  among  all  his 
Quaker  colonists. 

As  in  many  controversies  to-day,  the  root  of  the 
trouble  lay  in  the  question  as  to  the  seat  of  authority. 
Where  was  it?  In  the  church,  or  in  the  Bible,  or 
in  one's  own  conscience  ?  This  question  has  been 
settled  by  the  American  people  so  far  as  to  declare 
that  it  is  not  the  business  of  the  state  to  decide ;  for 
they  who  obey  the  laws  of  the  United  States  can 
answer  the  question  as  they  please. 

In  those  days  also,  when  insanity  was  not  well 
understood,  lunatics,  instead  of  being  kindly  and 
carefully  treated,  with  comforts  and  moral  suasion 
and  the  application  of  no  more  force  than  was 
necessary,  were  served  in  a  way  that  now  seems  to 
us  cruel  and  even  brutal.  The  Quakers  who  ran 
naked  through  the  streets,  or  interrupted  the  meet- 
ings, or  loudly  called  the  clergymen  hypocrites  and 
deceivers  were  publicly  whipped,  put  in  the  stocks, 
maimed,  branded  with  red-hot  irons,  had  their  ears 
cut  off,  or  were  exiled.  Finally,  four  of  them  were 
hanged  on  Boston  Common,  one  of  them  being  a 
woman.  When  the  king  interfered,  the  punish- 
ments and  the  excitement  died  out. 

In  those  colonies  where  abundant  freedom  was 
granted,  the  people  had  little  or  no  trouble  with  the 
Quakers,  so  called.  At  Plymouth,  the  Friends 
would  probably  have  met  with  no  opposition  had 


146      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

they  come  while  the  original  settlers  were  still  alive. 
It  was  noticeable,  however,  that  the  second  genera- 
tion of  people  born  in  the  new  and  rough  lands, 
who  had  never  known  either  the  manly  outdoor 
sports  of  Merry  England  or  the  noble  toleration 
of  Holland,  and  who  were  influenced  by  Puritan 
notions,  were  much  harsher  and  severer  than  their 
fathers.  Even  in  Plymouth  the  Quakers  were 
whipped  and  the  man  who  harbored  or  defended 
them  was  suspected  and  apt  to  suffer.  Laws  were 
even  made  denouncing  death  to  the  Quakers,  but 
happily  they  were  not  enforced.  Throughout  their 
history  the  Pilgrims  always  set  the  Puritans  a  noble 
example  of  Christianity,  charity,  and  liberal-minded- 
ness. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

CONNECTICUT,    RHODE    ISLAND,    AND    NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

JVJO  one  can  ever  accuse  the  Puritans,  or  the  aver- 
1  ^  age  Englishman,  of  a  lack  of  courage.  The 
love  of  war  inherited  from  their  Teutonic  and  Kel- 
tic ancestors,  and  the  power  to  fight  with  bull-dog 
tenacity,  still  remains.  After  the  sachem  Massasoit 
had  died,  his  younger  son  Metacom,  ridiculously 
called  "  King  "  Philip,  formed  a  league  of  the  sav- 
ages, and  in  1675  suddenly  attacked  the  Massachu- 
setts towns. 

A  war,  lasting  two  years,  broke  out,  which  wiped 
out  thirteen  towns  and  resulted  in  a  loss  of  life 
probably  amounting  to  six  hundred  colonists.  Dur- 
ing all  this  crisis,  Eliot's  Christian  Indians  remained 
faithful  to  the  whites.  After  his  tribe  had  been 
nearly  annihilated,  Metacom  was  shot  at  Mount 
Hope,  near  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  by  a  party  under 
Captain  Benjamin  Church.  The  chief's  head  was 
exposed  in  true  European  fashion  on  the  palisades 
at  Plymouth,  where  in  time  a  pair  of  wrens  made 
their  nest  inside  the  skull. 

The  Indian  prisoners  were  sold  as  slaves  among 

'47 


148       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

the  Spanish  possessions  of  South  America  and  the 
West  Indies.  Against  this  un-Christian  policy  of 
revenge,  some  of  the  clergymen  protested  in  vain. 
The  annals  of  the  Eastern  states  are  fearfully  dis- 
figured by  the  harsh  treatment  of  Indians  by  Chris- 
tians. The  policy  of  Roger  Williams,  Arendt  Van 
Curler,  William  Penn,  and  the  Moravians  was  not 
the  policy  of  these  cultured  Puritans,  who  seemed 
to  be  far  more  familiar  with  the  Old  than  with  the 
New  Testament,  and  who  followed  the  precepts  of 
Joshua  and  Gideon  rather  than  those  of  Christ. 

With  all  their  Christianity  and  their  civilization, 
the  settlers  of  the  Eastern  states  were  men  who  in- 
herited the  traits  and  superstitions  which  had  come 
down  from  their  Germanic  ancestors,  and  these 
they  brought  with  them  to  America.  They  were 
led  astray  by  their  inbred  delusions,  just  as  we  have 
seen  the  Spaniards  were  by  theirs. 

Witchcraft  is  not  the  curse  of  any  one  age  or 
nation,  but  exists  all  over  the  world  to-day,  wher- 
ever old  paganism  still  holds  the  human  mind  in 
slavery,  and  it  lingers  even  in  countries  called 
civilized.  The  first  voices  in  modern  times  against 
it  were  raised  in  the  Dutch  republic,  by  men  who 
had  critically  examined  the  delusion  and  the  alleged 
manifestations  of  it;  so  that  by  the  time  the  Pilgrims 
reached  Leyden,  it  had  ceased  to  trouble  the  minds 
of  most  intelligent  people.  Educated  men  in  Hoi- 


CONNECTICUT,   RHODE   ISLAND,   NEIT   //.-/.l/ASV/MV:.      149 

land  everywhere  scouted  the  idea  that  the  devil,  or 
evil  spirits  of  any  kind,  had  any  direct  dealings  with 
or  influence  upon  the  human  body,  though  some 
clergymen  and  their  adherents  still  nursed  the 
horrible  superstition  which  they  tried  to  bolster  up 
by  quoting  the  Bible.  In  1690  Rev.  Balthazar 
Bekker  wrote  the  book  which  helped  to  destroy 
forever  the  curse  of  witchcraft,  by  attacking  the 
theological  theory  on  which  it  was  founded.  The 
Pilgrims  were  entirely  free  from  this  superstition, 
and  so  also  were  the  Massachusetts  people  who 
had  settled  in  the  Merrimac  valley. 

Many  tens  of  thousands  of  people  were  put  to 
death  in  various  countries  of  Europe  for  the  sup- 
posed crime  of  witchcraft.  King  James  was  a  great 
witch-persecutor.  On  his  return  voyage  from  Den- 
mark, whither  he  had  gone  for  his  bride,  he  was 
kept  back  by  contrary  winds.  These  he  imagined 
were  raised  by  Scotch  witches,  who  had  come  out 
to  sea  in  sieves  for  the  purpose  of  troubling  him. 
This  James,  the  fool-king,  wrote  a  book  on  witch- 
craft and  published  it  in  Edinburgh,  in  1597.  He 
issued  a  new  edition  in  London  in  1603,  and  had 
a  new  and  more  terrible  statute  against  witches 
passed,  under  which  fresh  persecutions  broke  out 
in  Great  Britain  and  the  New  England  colonies. 
The  epidemic  bred  by  James'  new  law  began  in 
Connecticut,  and  before  1652  there  were  thirty 


I5O      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

trials  of  accused  persons  and  eight  capital  execu- 
tions. Then  the  delusion  quieted  down. 

Forty  years  later,  the  insanity  broke  out  at 
Danvers  or  Salem  village,  in  Massachusetts.  There 
were  no  lawyers.  Trials  were  held  without  any 
cross-questioning  of  the  witnesses  or  the  sifting  of 
evidence,  and  only  intolerant  clergy  and  the  royal 
governor  had  oversight  of  the  tribunals.  When 
some  young  folks  charged  that  certain  old  women 
tormented  them  by  coming  through  keyholes  and 
sticking  pins  in  their  flesh,  they  were  believed. 
Then  the  excitement  quickly  became  an  epidemic. 
Like  a  virulent  and  infectious  disease,  the  delusion 
ran  its  frightful  course.  Certain  persons  were 
charged  with  being  in  league  with  the  devil  and 
his  imps,  and  were  sentenced  to  death.  None  of 
them  was  burned,  as  many  thoughtless  people  say, 
but  nineteen  people  were  hanged. 

The  place  is  still  called  Gallows  Hill,  on  which 
this  judicial  murder  was  perpetrated.  When,  a  few 
years  ago,  the  two-hundredth  anniversary  of  this 
sad  episode  was  celebrated,  the  writer  of  this  book 
subscribed  one  dollar  to  a  citizen  in  Salem,  who  had 
proposed  a  monument  in  honor  and  vindication  of 
the  victims  of  the  Salem  witchcraft,  but  the  money 
was  returned  and  nothing  has  been  done. 

There  are  some  who  think  that  the  panic  at 
Salem  was  largely  caused  by  Cotton  Mather's  writ- 


CONNECTICUT,   RHODE  ISLAND,   NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     151 

ing  "  Memorable  Providences."  It  is  certain  that 
the  Salem  people  quickly  awoke  to  their  senses,  and 
in  1693  all  convicted  and  accused  persons  were  set 
free.  Finally,  this  nightmare  of  Christendom  was 
lifted.  Common  sense  and  science  asserted  them- 
selves, and  the  Bible  ceased  to  be  misused  in  the 
interests  of  paganism.  On  the  whole,  it  is  remark- 
able that  in  all  the  English  colonies,  the  witchcraft 
delusion  broke  out  in  so  few  places,  although  in 
England  the  law  in  favor  of  witch-killing  was  not 
repealed  until  the  year  1736. 

Even  John  Wesley,  however,  in  1 768  said,  "  The 
giving  up  of  witchcraft  is  in  effect  giving  up  of  the 
Bible,"  which  is  much  like  what  some  people  say  in 
our  day  of  the  literary  or  higher  criticism  of  the  Script- 
ures. Holland  led  off  in  the  reforms,  and  England 
followed.  After  these,  Germany,  Spain,  and  Scot- 
land, in  their  order,  were  the  countries  in  which  the 
greatest  number  of  victims  suffered  death.  As  late 
as  1873,  witches  were  judicially  burned  in  Mexico. 

Only  two  of  the  original  thirteen  colonies  took 
their  names  from  the  Indians.  These  were  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  the  first  from  a  hill,  and 
the  second  from  a  river-valley.  The  coast  and  some 
parts  inland  north  of  Long  Island  Sound  were  first 
explored  by  the  Dutch,  more  particularly  by  Captain 
Block,  whose  name  remains  on  Block  Island  and 
who  gave  the  name  Fresh  to  the  river.  Another 


152       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

great  stream  that  furnishes  Connecticut  with  a  tim- 
ber slide  and  with  water  power  has  taken  its  name 
from  that  part  of  the  state  which  the  early  Dutch 
called  Woesten  Hoek,  or  the  wilderness  region  or 
corner  where  the  wild  men  live.  This  word,  as  pro- 
nounced by  Indians,  has  become  "  Housatonic." 
Claiming  this  land  by  virtue  of  discovery  and  a  part 
of  New  Netherland,  the  Dutch  governor,  as  we  have 
seen,  sent  a  party  of  men  first  to  carry  out  the  usual 
policy  of  buying  the  land  from  the  Indians,  and 
then  to  erect  the  House  of  Good  Hope,  near  the 
site  of  Hartford. 

The  Plymouth  men  also  claimed  this  region  as 
lying  within  their  patent ;  but  as  both  they  and  the 
Dutch  desired  to  live  together  before  the  savages  in 

O  O 

peace  as  Christians,  and  not  to  get  to  fighting  among 
themselves,  to  the  scandal  of  religion,  they  refrained 
from  hostilities.  It  was  only  late  in  his  lifetime 
that  Governor  Bradford,  probably  under  pressure 
from  others,  wanted  to  get  the  Bay  Colony  to  help 
them  to  expel  the  Dutch.  The  New  Netherlanders 
had  no  desire  to  go  to  war  with  their  Protestant 
neighbors.  Their  home  government  ordered  them, 
above  all  things,  to  keep  the  peace ;  for  brave  little 
Holland  was  still  fighting  mighty  Spain  for  her  lib- 
erty and  needed  England's  friendship. 

The  English,  however,  coveted  the  trade  of  the 
Indians,  and  longed  to  occupy  these  fertile  acres  in 


CONNECTICUT,    RHODE   ISLAND,   NEW  HAMPSHIRE.      153 

the  river  valleys,  and  Englishmen  are  rarely  ever 
known  to  be  too  hesitant  or  delicate  about  seizing 
possession  of  any  part  of  the  world  when  they  want 
it.  We  soon  find  the  Eastern  colonists  moving  into 
the  Connecticut  valley,  without  much  regard  to  other 
claimants  of  ownership.  In  1633  Lieutenant  Will- 
iam Holmes,  unharmed  by  the  Dutch,  sailed  up  the 
river  in  a  vessel  having  on  board  the  frame  of  a 
house,  and  soon  emigrants  from  the  Bay  Colony  be- 
gan the  towns  of  Wethersfield  and  Windsor.  A  few 
months  later  the  English  Company,  which  possessed 
a  grant  from  the  king,  sent  out  John  Winthrop,  a 
son  of  the  Boston  governor,  who  built  a  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Connecticut  River.  He  tore  down  the 
Dutch  signs  of  ownership,  and  named  the  fort  after 
two  of  the  chief  stockholders  of  the  company,  Lord 
Say  and  Brook,  —  Saybrook. 

When  news  reached  the  coast  settlements  that  the 
country  so  near  New  Netherland  had  been  settled, 
the  Boston  and  Plymouth  folks  spoke  of  the  new 
region  as  "  the  West."  Hearing  of  its  fertile  soil, 
some  of  the  newcomers,  who  did  not  like  the  rather 
severe  government  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  re- 
solved to  emigrate.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
some  of  these  Massachusetts  colonists  were  old  sol- 
diers who  had  served  in  the  Dutch  war,  or  otlu-r> 
who  had  been  in  the  republic,  and  who  could  not 
stand  the  rather  close  social  atmosphere.  Among 


154       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

the  latter  was  Thomas  Hooker,  a  Cambridge  grad- 
uate, who  had  been  persecuted  for  his  nonconformity 
in  England,  and  who  had  lived  three  years  in  Delft  and 
Rotterdam.  He  had  come  secretly  to  America,  for 
King  Charles  was  having  the  emigrant  ships  searched 
and  even  stopped  from  sailing.  Another  leader  was 
John  Davenport,  a  Puritan  divine,  who  had  been 
ejected  from  the  political  church  in  England,  and 
afterwards  spent  two  years  in  Holland.  When  in 
New  Haven,  believing  that  Charles  II.  had  justly  lost 
his  head,  he  gave  shelter  to  two  of  the  judges,  called 
"  regicides,"  because  they  had  ordered  Charles  Stuart, 
the  law-breaker,  to*the  block. 

Hooker  found  a  company  of  about  one  hundred 
people,  young  and  old,  men  and  women,  who  were 
willing  to  go  with  him.  So  they  started  to  "go 
West,"  taking  a  two  weeks'  wralk  through  the  woods, 
crossing  the  rivers  on  rafts  and  finding  their  way 
without  any  guide,  except  the  compass  and  the  sun 
and  stars.  They  also  drove  before  them  their  cattle 
and  hogs,  and  had  the  fresh  milk  of  the  cows  to 
live  upon.  In  health  and  safety  they  joined  the  lit- 
tle settlement  of  Englishmen  at  Hartford.  Daven- 

O 

port  and  his  colony  came  later  by  water.  Landing 
in  1638,  at  a  spot  in  New  Haven  now  marked  by  a 
tablet,  they  held  divine  service  under  a  great  oak 
tree,  Davenport  preaching  a  sermon  in  the  open  air. 
In  the  spring  they  met  in  a  large  barn  and  agreed 
upon  a  form  of  government. 


CONNECTICUT,   RHODE  ISLAND,   NEW  HAMPSHIRE.      155 

The  Connecticut  settlers  did  not  seem  to  have 
sufficient  tact,  or  else  the  love  of  peace  in  them  was 
not  strong  enough,  to  enable  them  to  live  quietly 
with  the  Indians.  When  the  Pequots  threatened  to 
destroy  the  white  settlers,  the  men  of  the  three  towns 
in  the  Connecticut  valley, —  Hartford,  Wethersfield, 
and  Windsor,  —  instead  of  punishing  the  ringlead- 
ers, agreed  to  exterminate  the  Pequots  in  their 
stronghold.  For  this  purpose  they  raised  ninety 
men  and  put  them  under  the  command  of  Captain 
John  Mason,  a  veteran  of  the  Dutch  wars.  With 
some  friendly  Mohicans  and  Narragansett  warriors, 
—  though  Roger  Williams  had  persuaded  the  main 
tribe  not  to  fight, —  Mason  attacked  and  surprised 
the  Indian  fort.  By  sword,  bullet,  or  fire,  about  five 
hundred  Pequots  were  destroyed.  In  another  expe- 
dition in  western  Connecticut,  Captain  Mason  nearly 
annihilated  the  tribe.  Thus  the  Indians  paid  the 
awful  penalty  of  the  murders  which  they  had  com- 
mitted. . 

Those  settlers  of  Connecticut  led  by  men  who 
had  seen  how  a  country  could  be  governed  without 
a  king,  under  a  written  constitution,  were  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  people  in  the  Bay  Colony.  The 
society  of  Massachusetts  was  rather  aristocratic  in 
form.  Royalty  had  many  favorites.  Towns,  vil- 
lages, and  streets  were  frequently  named  in  honor 
of  the  king  or  his  friends.  Indeed,  one  can  almost 


156       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

read  in  the  place  and  road  names  of  Massachusetts 
the  history  of  Great  Britain's  royalty  and  of  the 
different  countries  from  which  the  kings  came.  On 
the  contrary,  in  Connecticut,  the  spirit  of  the  peo- 
ple was  from  the  first  very  democratic.  They 
avoided  whatever  savored  of  nobles,  courts,  and 
kings.  Except  Windsor,  which  was  settled  by 
Massachusetts  people,  one  will  not  find  in  the  whole 
state  the  name  of  any  king  or  his  favorites.  Two 
reasons,  out  of  many,  for  this  lie  in  the  Dutch 
leaven  imported  by  Hooker,  Davenport,  Mason,  and 
other  denizens  of  the  republic,  and  in  the  large  in- 
fusion of  Welsh  emigrants.  Moreover,  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  family  names  in  Connecticut 
despite  great  changes  in  form  and  spelling,  are  un- 
mistakably of  Netherlandish  or  Huguenot  origin. 

The  first  political  arrangements  of  Connecticut 
were  wonderfully  like  those  in  the  Dutch  United 
States,  in  which  Davenport,  Hooker,  and  Mason, 
and  perhaps  other  prominent  men  in  Connecticut, 
had  spent  some  time.  These  resemblances  to  things 
in  the  republic  which  sheltered  the  Pilgrims,  and 
in  which  all  the  colonial  military  men  were  trained, 
is  more  than  accidental.  In  1639  the  people  of 
the  three  towns  met,  and,  after  the  model  of  the 
Dutch  republic,  drew  up  a  written  constitution. 
The  spirit  of  Hooker,  who  preached  that  authority 
under  God  resides  with  the  people,  took  form  in 


CONNECTICUT,   RHODE  ISLAND,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     157 

writing.  No  mention  was  made  in  the  text  of  the 
King  of  England,  or  of  the  company  holding  the 
king's  grant.  Suffrage  was  not  limited  to  church 
members,  but  all  citizens  were  equal  in  political 
privilege.  In  the  legislature  the  basis  of  representa- 
tion was  not  by  population,  but  by  towns,  each  hav- 
ing one  vote.  After  the  Frisian  fashion,  the  written 
ballot  was  used.  The  duties  of  the  magistrates 
were  substantially  those  of  the  Dutch  schepens. 
The  colonial  government  of  Connecticut  was  the 
closest  of  all  the  colonial  types  of  the  later  national 
government  of  the  United  States. 

Out  of  the  Plymouth  Company's  territory,  which 
received  the  name  of  New  England,  no  fewer  than 
seven  colonies  were  formed.  Massachusetts  at  first 
and  for  a  long  time  claimed  the  territory  of  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire.  Maine  was  governed  as  part 
of  Massachusetts,  not  becoming  a  state  until  1820, 
the  people  being  ruled  meanwhile  under  the  Andros 
charter. 

"  Maine  "  is  the  same  word  as  "  main  "  in  main- 
land. At  the  Centennial  Exposition  of  1876,  in 
Philadelphia,  a  man  from  Augusta,  on  inquiring 
for  "  the  Maine  building,"  was  shown  the  largest  on 
the  grounds,  —  the  Main  Hall.  Thereupon  he 
remarked,  "  Well,  I  knew  that  our  boys  would  do 
the  handsome  thing."  Some  French  people  believe 
that,  since  their  countrymen  settled  the  northern 


158       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

portion  of  this  wonderful  region  of  the  pointed  firs, 
the  name  was  taken  from  the  Gallic  province  of  the 
same  name.  Another  name  frequent  in  early  his- 
tory is  Laconia,  which  some  think  arose  from  the 
numerous  lakes  for  which  Maine  is  still  famous, 
or  because  the  territory  was  supposed  to  extend  to 
Lake  Ontario. 

No  other  state  has  so  beautiful  and  variegated  a 
rocky  coast-line,  or  so  many  indentations,  giving  a 
water  frontage  of  nearly  twenty-five  hundred  miles, 
or  such  abundance  of  natural  water  power.  Maine 
excels  in  the  number  of  bold  landmarks,  such  as 
rivers,  mountains,  and  sheets  of  water.  Its  area  is 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  all  the  other  Eastern  states. 
Its  chief  products  are  ice  in  winter  and  granite  in 
summer.  The  population  is  probably  of  purer  Eng- 
ish  stock  than  any  other  state,  and  it  is  famous  for 
the  number  of  great  men  which  it  has  produced. 

New  Hampshire  received  its  name  through  John 
Mason,  a  native  of  the  county  of  Hampshire,  Eng- 
land, who  settled  on  the  Piscataqua  at  Dover,  in 
1627.  Before  this  time  a  Scotchman  named  David 
Thompson,  who  has  an  island  in  Boston  harbor 
named  after  him,  had  made  a  successful  settlement 
at  the  same  place  in  1623,  and  was  in  friendly 
cooperation  with  the  Pilgrims.  The  Plymouth 
Company  had,  as  early  as  1623,  made  a  grant  of 
the  country  between  the  Merrimac  and  Kennebec 


CONNECTICUT,   RHODE  ISLAND,   NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     159 

rivers  to  John  Mason  and  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges, 
who  had  served  in  the  Dutch  war.  After  a  few 
years,  these  proprietors  decided  to  divide  the  ter- 
ritory. Mason  took  the  land  west  of  the  river, 
while  Gorges  took  the  eastern  division.  In  1638, 
when  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  was  expelled  from 
Massachusetts  for  sympathy  with  Mrs.  Hutchinson, 
he  and  some  of  his  congregation  moved  northward 
and  settled  the  town  of  Exeter. 

The  scattered  population,  being  constantly  ex- 
posed to  the  inroads  of  the  French  and  hostile 
Indians,  kept  by  the  seashore.  The  settlements 
of  New  Hampshire  were  mostly  fishing  villages, 
among  which  Portsmouth  and  Dover  were  the 
largest.  In  1641  the  little  colony  asked  to  be 
united  to  Massachusetts.  Not  liking  the  restric- 
tion of  the  ballot  to  church  members,  they  were 
allowed  to  vote  and  hold  office  without  question  as 
to  their  membership  in  religious  societies.  In  later 
years  Scottish  and  Irish  settlers  brought  to  the 
colony,  which  became  the  Old  Granite  State,  the 
splendid  qualities  for  which  this  Scotch-Irish  stock 
is  deservedly  famous.  The  New  Hampshire  colo- 
nists always  took  part  generously  and  bravely  in  the 
colonial  wars  and  enterprises.  They  numbered  eighty 
thousand  souls  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution. 

Vermont  was  first  looked  upon  by  a  white  man 
when  Champlain  came  down  the  lake  named  after 


l6o       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

himself.  It  was  for  ages  the  battle-field  and  hunting- 
ground  of  the  Algonquin  and  the  Iroquois  Indians. 
The  former  tribes  had  first  possession  of  it;  for 
almost  all  the  Indian  names  of  lakes,  rivers,  and 
other  landmarks  are  Algonquin  and  not  Iroquois. 
Then  armed  bands  of  English  and  French  roamed 
over  its  territory,  which  was  claimed  both  by  New 
Hampshire  and  by  New  York.  Probably  the  first 
English  settlement  was  Fort  Dummer,  built  near 
the  city  of  Brattleboro  in  1724.  The  question  as 
to  who  owned  the  land  in  the  Green  Mountain 
region  was  not  settled  until  after  the  Revolution. 

Thus  the  Eastern  colonies  on  or  near  the  Atlan- 
tic seacoast  were  begun  by  the  Pilgrims  and  built 
up  by  the  Puritans.  In  overwhelming  majority 
the  people  were  British,  and  most  of  this  majority 
were  English  who  came  largely  from  the  eastern, 
middle,  and  southern  counties  of  England,  though 
all  of  the  shires  were  represented. 

Whatever  the  faults  of  the  Puritans  may  have 
been,  they  have  left  their  ineffaceable  stamp  upon 
our  national  history.  They  had  an  intense  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  as  they  saw  it,  a  clear  idea  of  the 
authority  of  righteousness,  a  profound  assurance 
of  God's  just  and  holy  rule,  and  a  deep  sense  ot 
the  dignity  of  man.  They  lacked  interest  in  things 
aesthetic.  They  were  contemptuous  of  some  of  the 
minor  elegances  of  life.  They  were  wanting  in 


CONNECTICUT,   RHODE   ISLAND,   NEW  HAMPSHIRE.     l6l 

sympathy  with  questioning  minds.  Often  they  were 
unlovely  and  unattractive  in  their  methods.  The 
records  of  their  courts  and  churches  show  that 
hypocrisy  was  common,  and  that  their  average  ethi- 
cal practice  was  sufficiently  far  from  their  theory. 

Nevertheless,  there  were  magnificent  qualities  in 
the  Puritan  spirit,  such  as  its  masterful  sincerity, 
its  majestic  ideal,  its  superb  and  shining  courage, 
its  triumphant  disregard  of  institutions,  its  clearest 
vision  of  things  celestial  and  eternal. 

Such  a  concentration  of  intellect,  education,  and 
homes  in  the  Eastern  colonies  produced  in  colonial 
times  and  later  its  due  results.  Until  our  great 
Civil  War,  New  England  was  almost  a  nation,  and  a 
noble  one,  in  itself.  Her  sons  and  daughters  have 
profoundly  influenced  the  nation  by  their  intellect, 
literary  abilities,  and  enterprise.  In  education  and 
in  moral  reforms,  Massachusetts  led  all  the  colonies 
and  states,  and  the  brightest  names  in  American 
literature  are  those  of  her  children. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

MARYLAND    AND    CATHOLIC     LIBERALITY. 

THE  church  by  law  established  in  England  was 
peculiar  in  many  respects.  When  the  Reforma- 
tion aroused  Europe  from  the  intellectual  slumbers 
of  the  middle  ages,  the  Latin  nations  held  to  the 
Roman  ideas,  systems,  and  religion.  The  Germanic 
nations,  revising  their  doctrines,  ritual,  and  church 
order,  instituted  national  Reformed  churches. 

Wherever  the  Reformation  was  led  by  the  people, 
the  tone  of  the  church  was  democratic  ;  where  it  was 
directed  by  the  Puritans,  it  was  aristocratic ;  where, 
as  in  England,  it  was  ordered  by  the  monarch,  the 
state-church  bishops  were  lords  of  the  realm.  The 
Reformed  church  of  Holland,  for  example,  was  in- 
tensely democratic.  The  Lutheran  church  in  Ger- 
many was  ruled  by  the  princes  and  their  advisers. 
In  England  the  bishops,  who  were  appointees  of 
the  king  and  were  even  called  lords  bishops,  had 
greater  power  than  in  any  other  Protestant  country. 
In  Scotland,  Wales,  and  North  Ireland  the  demo- 
cratic spirit  prevailed. 

162 


MARYLAND  AND    CATHOLIC  LIBERALITY.  163 

To  secure  the  union  of  State  and  Church  in  Eng- 
land, persecution  was  used,  and  it  is  hard  to  tell 
whether  the  Puritans  or  the  Catholics  suffered  the 
most;  for  both  were  heavily  fined  unless  they  attended 
the  services  of  the  church  of  England.  SucrJIoer- 
cion  in  the  end  proved'of  little  benefit;  for  although 
based  on  force,  the  Established  Church  has  to-day 
only  a  minority  of  English  and  only  a  small  fraction 
of  Welsh  people  within  her  pale,  while  in  Ireland  it 
has  been  reduced  to  a  level  with  the  other  denomi- 
nations. In  the  British  colonies,  the  sect  which  in 
England  is  subsidized  by  the  state  is  simply  one 
among  many,  just  as  in  the  United  States,  where  all 
varieties  of  religion  must  show  their  fitness  to  live 
by  righteousness  and  not  by  dependence  upon  the 
sword  or  the  public  treasury.  The  Dutch  republic 
first,  as  our  constitutional  fathers  confessed,  and  the 
United  States  of  America  next,  have  been  the  leaders 
in  demonstrating  that  religion  is  better  off  when  it 

O  O 

is  voluntary  and  let  alone  by  the  state. 

The  Plymouth  Pilgrims  were  not  the  only  ones 
to  get  away  from  such  a  persecuting  church.  It 
was  not  they  alone  who  were  Pilgrims.  The  Catho- 
lics suffered  terribly.  George  Calvert,  called  Lord 
Baltimore,  an  English  Catholic  nobleman,  looked  to 
America  to  find  a  refuge  for  'his  fellow- worshippers 
who  were  harried  in  England.  Being  in  favor  with 
King  Charles  I.,  his  sovereign  granted  him  a  tract 


164       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

of  land  in  northern  Virginia,  which  was  named 
Maryland.  Geography  was  not  well  understood  in 
those  days,  for  even  the  coast-line  had  been  but 
little  measured  and  mapped  out.  This  grant  of 
Mary's  land — for  the  French  queen  of  Charles, 
Henrietta-Marie,  gave  her  name  to  the  new  country 
-  included,  in  addition  to  the  territory  of  the  Mary- 
land of  to-day,  Delaware,  part  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
West  Virginia. 

All  the  Southern  colonies  were  named  after  British 
sovereigns,  —  Virginia  from  the  virgin  Queen  Eliza- 
beth ;  Maryland  from  Mary  Stuart,  the  wife  of  King 
Charles  I.;  the  two  Carolinas  after  Charles  II.;  and 
Georgia  after  King  George  II.  Although  Lord 
Baltimore  died  before  the  charter  was  signed,  his 
son  Cecil  Calvert  received  the  patent  and,  having 
great  powers,  carried  on  the  work.  In  the  spring 
of  1634  he  sent  out  a  colony  of  three  hundred 
people,  who  crossed  the  ocean  in  the  first  section  of 
a  fleet  under  the  command  of  the  Dutch  Admiral 
Van  Bibber,  from  whom  some  of  the  best  families 
in  Maryland  are  descended.  The  ships  were  named 
the  Ark  and  the  Dove,  the  former  being  a  large 
vessel  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  tons  and  the  latter 
a  pinnace  of  but  fifty  tons. 

The  company  of  "  gentlemen  adventurers  "  and 
their  servants  left  Gravesend  and  stopped  at  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  where  two  Jesuit  fathers,  White  and 


MARYLAND  AND    CATHOLIC  LIBERALITY.  165 

Altham,  with  some  of  the  other  emigrants  were 
taken  on  board.  Leaving  Cowes  November  22, 
1633,  they  followed  the  old  route,  by  the  Azores 
and  the  West  Indies,  reaching  Point  Comfort  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1634.  Meeting  the  Indians,  they  assured 
them  of  their  desire  to  impart  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion and  to  teach  them  the  way  to  heaven.  Con- 
sidering that  the  aborigines  had  some  rights  to  the 
soil,  they  bought  thirty  miles  of  the  land  from  them 
for  hatchets  and  cloth,  and  thus  established  their 
colony  with  the  good  will  of  the  red  men. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  1634,  amid  the  firing  of 
the  ships'  cannon,  the  emigrants  disembarked  from 
the  Ark  and  began  their  new  home.  The  Indians 
at  once  taught  the  white  strangers  the  mysteries  of 
woodcraft,  to  hunt  the  deer,  to  plant  and  use  the 
chief  American  grain,  to  cook  corn  meal,  and  to 
make  first-rate  cakes  and  succotash.  The  English- 
men were  so  fortunate  in  their  agriculture,  that  in 
this  same  year  they  raised  a  crop  of  maize,  which 
they  were  able  to  send  to  Massachusetts  to  exchange 
for  salt  fish  and  other  provisions.  The  Jesuit 
fathers  set  up  the  first  Roman  Catholic  church  in 
America,  and  began  preaching  the  gospel  among 
the  Indians.  Under  their  teachings  many  of  the 
Protestants  also,  who  were  the  laborers  or  servants 
in  the  colony,  became  Catholics.  When  Tayac, 
chief  of  the  Piscataquas,  was  baptized,  Governor 


1 66       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Calvert  and  the  principal  men  of  the  colony  were 
present  at  the  ceremony. 

The  original  colony  consisted  of  twenty  men  of 
property  or  social  standing,  and  the  rest  were  wage- 
earners  or  dependents  ;  but  all  of  them  took  part  in 
making  the  laws,  and,  in  a  few  years,  they  had  the 
power  of  originating  them.  The  Assembly  was 
composed  of  sixteen  members,  —  nine  burgesses  or 
representatives,  six  councillors,  and  a  governor,— 
and  they  entered  upon  their  duties  in  1649.  Six 
were  of  the  Reformed  and  eight  were  of  the  Roman 
form  of  the  Christian  faith,  that  of  the  others  not 
being  certain. 

The  very  first  law  passed  was  one  guaranteeing 
religious  liberty.  It  set  forth  that  no  person  "  Pro- 
fessing to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  shall  from  thence- 
forth be  in  any  \vise  troubled,  molested,  or  discoun- 
tenanced, for,  or  in  respect  of  his  or  her  religion, 
nor  in  the  free  exercise  thereof  within  this  Prov- 
ince .  .  .  nor  in  any  way  compelled  to  the  belief  or 
exercise  of  any  other  religion  against  his  or  her 
consent."  Thus,  one  of  the  first  of  the  colonies  to 
grant  entire  freedom  of  conscience  was  that  under 
a  Roman  Catholic  proprietor.  In  the  same  year, 
Governor  Stone  invited  the  Puritans  who  had  been 
banished  from  Virginia  to  settle  in  Maryland. 
They  came,  and  named  the  place  where  they  settled 
Providence,  on  the  site  of  Annapolis. 


MARYLAND  AND   CATHOLIC  LIBERALITY.  167 

Thus  nobly  did  Maryland  follow  the  example  of 
the  country  of  Admiral  Van  Bibber,  though  the 
Marylanders  fell  far  behind  the  Dutch  in  restrict- 
ing their  toleration  or  their  grant  of  religious  liberty 
to  Christians  who  must  be  either  Roman  or  Re- 
formed ;  for  their  laws  did  not  protect  Jews  and 
those  who  rejected  the  divinity  of  Christ. 

The  colonists  had  many  troubles.  Clayborne 
the  Virginian  held  Cat  Island  in  Chesapeake  Bay, 
and  would  not  leave  until  driven  out  by  force.  The 
Civil  War,  which  divided  the  English  people  at 
home,  compelled  those  in  Maryland  to  array  them- 
selves on  hostile  sides,  either  for  the  Protector  or 
Pretender.  Clayborne's  Rebellion  kept  the  country 
disturbed  during  the  better  part  of  three  years. 
The  bold  and  unscrupulous  Captain  Ingle  seized 
the  colony  in  the  name  of  the  Puritan  parliament  of 
England,  and  sent  home  the  aged  Jesuit  Father 
.White  in  irons.  When  the  Commonwealth  was 
established,  its  commissioners  in  Maryland  acted  in 
a  most  intolerant  manner,  allowing  no  Catholics  to 
have  a  seat  in  the  legislature.  They  repealed  the 
statute  of  toleration  and  prohibited  Catholic  wor- 
ship. The  old  story  of  the  poor  cony  that  invited 
the  hedgehog  into  its  hole  on  a  rainy  day,  only  to 
be  driven  out,  was  enacted  over  again.  The  name 
of  Puritan  was  disgraced  by  bigotry  and  intol- 
erance. 


1 68       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

In  1658  Lord  Baltimore  was  reinvested  with  his 
rights,  and  freedom  of  worship  again  restored. 
Then  the  colony  became  fairly  prosperous.  To- 
bacco was  cultivated  and  became  the  chief  export. 
It  was  even  used  like  money,  at  a  penny  a  pound. 
In  spite  of  the  determination  of  the  British  govern- 
ment to  repress  manufactures,  there  were  eight 
copper  furnaces  and  nine  forges  in  operation  by 
i  750.  Some  wine  was  also  produced.  Both  land 
and  sea  food  were  abundant,  and  the  eastern  shore 
became  early  famous  for  its  oysters,  terrapin,  can- 
vas-back ducks,  and  other  delicacies.  A  generous 
hospitality  and  a  society  rich  in  social  graces  have 
ever  characterized  Maryland. 

Thus  the  Catholics  in  Maryland  and  in  our  nation, 
in  spite  of  their  occasional  blunders  in  politics,  have 
always  shown  themselves  in  living  sympathy  with 
what  is  truly  American.  Reading  the  future  by 
the  past,  we  may  be  sure  that,  in  time  of  foreign  in- 
vasion or  internal  commotion,  our  government  and 
nation  may  always  rely  upon  their  strong  right  arm. 
Slowly  and  surely  the  Catholics  in  the  United  States 
have  progressed  to  a  broad  liberality,  in  spite  of 
hostile  secret  organizations  based  on  uncharitable- 

O 

ness  and  injustice.      The  beginnings  of   Maryland 
were  prophetic. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE     CAROLINAS. 

THE  English  people  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
especially  after  so  many  thousands  of  the  best 
of  them  had  emigrated  to  America,  were  not  pre- 
pared for  a  republic ;  for  they  were  not  at  that  time 
educated  up  to  the  idea.  When  Cromwell  died, 
there  was  no  one  to  take  his  place  and  do  his  work. 
His  son  Richard  proved  a  weak  ruler,  and  soon  the 
way  was  made  ready  in  England  by  partisans  of  the 
Stuarts  for  the  return  of  the  monarchy,  in  1660. 

The  new  king,  Charles  II.,  had  taken  refuge  in 
the  Netherlands,  where  he  was  kindly  treated, 
though  he  afterwards  repaid  the  kindness  of  the 
Dutch  by  the  foulest  treachery.  After  the  Royalist 
party  had  regained  authority,  Charles  appointed 
Edward  Hyde,  one  of  his  faithful  followers,  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England  and  Prime  Minister.  In 
1 66 1  this  man,  known  as  the  Earl  of  Clarendon, 
who  afterwards  wrote  what  he  called  a  history  of 
"the  rebellion,"  interested  himself  in  the  work  of 
colonizing  America.  In  1663  he  and  his  associates 
formed  a  company,  to  which  Charles  granted  the 

169 


I/O       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

vast  territory  lying  south  of  Virginia.  Retaining 
the  name  Carolina,  which  Charles  IX.  of  France 
had  given  to  the  region  when  the  Huguenots  settled 
there  in  the  previous  century,  they  considered 
that  they  were  getting  all  the  land  stretching  west- 
ward to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  from  Virginia  to 

o 

the  tip  of  Florida. 

General  Monk,  the  chief  agent  in  the  restoration 
of  the  Stuarts  and  who  was  usually  known  in  his  day 
as  "  Old  Monk,"  was  made  Duke  of  Albemarle. 
He  it  was  who  first  clothed  the  British  soldiers  in 
scarlet,  making  them  the  famous"  red  coats  "  of  whom 
we  have  heard  so  much,  and  whom  our  fathers  met 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Like  almost  all  leaders 
of  the  parliamentary  army,  he  had  fought  under  the 
banners  of  the  Dutch  republic.  He  served  the 
king  first,  then  Cromwell,  and  then  the  king  again. 
He  was  in  the  Dutch  pay  early  in  life  and  later 
fought  against  them  in  command  of  an  English 
fleet.  His  title-name  has  been  given  to  Albemarle 
Sound.  The  name  of  another  member,  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  or  Mr.  Ashley-Cooper,  was  given  to  two 
rivers  in  South  Carolina.  Other  members  of  the 
company  were  Craven,  Colleton,  Carteret,  and  two 
men  named  Berkeley. 

The  first  colony,  made  up  of  settlers  in  Virginia, 
was  called  Albemarle  and  the  second,  composed 
largely  of  planters  who  came  from  the  West  Indies, 


THE    CAROLLVAS.  \J\ 

Clarendon.  During  the  next  four  years  few  colonists 
came  from  England  to  Carolina,  and  most  of  the 
actual  settlers  were  the  Huguenots  or  Christians  of 
the  Reformed  church  of  France.  In  1670  a  body 
of  these  excellent  people,  who  had  come  in  two  ships, 
landed  much  further  south,  forming  the  city  of 
Charleston,  which  they  named  in  honor  of  the  king. 
After  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685, 
a  still  larger  host  of  Huguenots  settled  in  Carolina. 
This  act  of  the  bigoted  Bourbon,  Louis  XIV., 
drove  out  of  France  five  hundred  thousand  of 
the  best  people  of  the  nation,  impoverishing  the 
country,  but  enriching  Germany,  Holland,  Eng- 
land, and  America.  France  paid  dearly  for  her 
tyrant's  folly.  About  one-half  of  the  soldiers  in  the 
splendid  army  of  William  of  Orange,  which  marched 
into  London  in  1688,  to  drive  out  Louis'  ally,  James 
II.,  were  Huguenots.  In  1871,  in  the  German 
army  of  invasion,  six  hundred  officers  and  thousands 
of  privates  were  descendants  of  the  French  exiles 
of  1685. 

From  the  very  beginning,  the  company  had 
granted  religious  liberty  to  all  colonists,  and  this 
attracted  many  people  of  various  nationalities,  not 
only  from  Europe,  but  from  other  parts  of  America. 
The  ship  Phoenix,  from  New  York,  brought  Ger- 
mans, who  built  Jamestown  on  the  Stone  River. 
English,  Irish,  Scottish,  French,  Swiss,  and  more 


1/2       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

Germans  came  to  settle  the  new  country.  All 
Christians  lived  harmoniously  together,  until  Lord 
Granville  began  his  ruinous  course  of  bigotry.  He 
attempted  to  remove  the  religious  privileges  of  the 
colonists,  by  excluding  all  who  were  not  members 
of  the  Anglican  church  from  the  colonial  legislat- 
ure. This  abominable  policy  started  the  struggle 
between  the  proprietors  and  the  people,  which 
finally  led  to  the  loss  of  their  title  by  the  former. 

Even  before  this,  in  1670,  Mr.  Anthony  Ashley- 
Cooper,  afterwards  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  a  fierce 
persecutor  of  the  Catholics,  attempted  a  silly  experi- 
ment. He  persuaded  his  secretary,  the  English 
philosopher  John  Locke,  to  write  a  constitution 
for  Carolina,  which  he  and  his  friends  believed  to 
be  the  most  perfect  work  of  its  kind  in  existence. 
Locke  was  a  closet  statesman,  despite  the  fact  that 
he  wrote  a  book  "  On  the  Human  Understanding," 
which  is  supposed  to  embody  the  philosophy  of 
common  sense.  In  reality,  this  constitution  was 
rather  like  a  fossil  of  feudalism.  It  was  one  of  those 
ridiculous  systems  of  government  in  which  the 
common  people,  who  are  the  real  makers  of  govern- 
ment, had  no  vote  and  no  rights,  but  in  which  the 
noblemen  monopolized  privilege  and  power.  The 
colonial  parliament  was  graded  into  four  chambers, 
—  proprietors,  landgraves,  caziques,  and  lords  of 
manors.  The  people  were  only  "leet-men"  or  serfs, 


THE    CAROLLVAS. 


173 


attached  to  the  soil  like  the  old  adscripti glebcc  of  the 
Roman  empire.  Even  their  very  food  and  clothes 
were  regulated  by  a  paternal  government. 

This  constitution  never  got  very  much  further 
than  the  paper  on  which  it  was  written.  Certainly, 
people  of  Scottish  descent  could  never  live  under 
it.  After  twenty  years  of  vain  attempts  at  enforc- 
ing it,  the  proprietors  gave  up  the  idea.  The  docu- 
ment is  now  an  interesting  relic  known  only  to 
antiquarians. 

Shaftesbury  was  but  one  of  a  long  list  of  foolish 
and  impractical  members  of  the  semi-feudal  society 
of  England,  who  have  tried  to  make  worn-out  old- 
world  notions  work  in  America,  and  whose  failures 
are  legion. 

The  new  colonists  were  very  industrious.  They 
cut  down  the  forests,  cleared  the  soil  for  plantations, 
experimented  with  seeds  which  they  had  brought 
from  Europe,  raised  excellent  cattle,  built  comfort- 
able houses,  opened  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  ex- 
plored the  country.  They  soon  found  it  necessary 
to  form  military  companies  for  defence  against  the 
hostile  natives  and  the  Spaniards  in  Florida.  Along 
the  sultry  low  country  of  the  coast  there  was  much 
malaria  and  consequent  sickness,  but  gradually  the 
people  pushed  into  the  interior  to  the  high  lands 
and  to  the  healthier  plateaus.  This  scattered  the 
settlers  and  prevented  the  growth  of  large  towns. 


1/4      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

The  great  demand  for  naval  stores  in  Europe  gave 
the  people  plenty  to  do  in  the  forest,  making  pitch, 
tar,  rosin,  and  turpentine. 

In  1672  Sir  John  Yeamans  imported  the  first 
slaves  from  Africa  into  the  Carolinas.  Here  the 
negroes  found  a  congenial  environment  and  mul- 
tiplied. Their  masters  were  very  apt  to  name 
their  black  servants  after  classic  heroes  and  gods 
of  mythology,  such  as  Pompey,  Ccesar,  Hannibal, 
Remus,  and  Jason.  It  was  not  all  sweat  and  toil 
for  poor  Sambo.  He,  too,  had  his  fun  and  romance 
and  beguiled  the  hours  of  rest  and  the  long  night- 
hours  with  fairy  stories  as  old  as  the  Aryans.  In 
the  new  Western  world,  the  ancient  African  folk- 
lore, a  mixture  of  the  paganism  of  the  jungle  and 
of  distorted  Buddhism,  took  on  new  forms. 

The  typical  Uncle  Remus  no  longer  told  the 
ancient  animal  stories  borrowed  from  India,  Arabia, 
and  Egypt  in  the  old  African  way,  but  used  the 
creatures  and  scenery  closest  to  him.  In  this  way 
grew  up  the  tales  about  "  Brer  Rabbit "  and  the 
"  Tar  Baby."  In  substance,  the  story  is  the  same 
in  India  and  Japan.  It  does  not  seem  difficult  to 
recognize  in  the  sticky  creature  of  our  southern 
coast  forests  the  old  imp  of  matted  locks  and 
snarled-up  hair  with  which  the  Buddha  once  fought 
and  to  which  he  stuck  fast.  The  story  contains  a 
parable  almost  as  old  as  human  nature.  In  due 


THE    CAROLINAS.  175 

time  the  children  of  African  pagans  learned  the 
story  of  infinite  love.  To-day  the  negro  shares  in 
the  Christianity  and  civilization  of  the  great  republic, 
in  which  religion  —  its  forms  settled  by  conscience 
and  not  by  edict  —  is  all  the  purer  for  being  free. 

North  Carolina  is  famous  for  its  great  forests  of 
tar-bearing  trees,  which  abound  within  fifty  leagues 
of  the  coast.  The  production  of  turpentine,  tar, 
pitch,  and  rosin,  so  necessary  in  the  days  of  wooden 
ships,  was  a  vital  necessity  to  Great  Britain;  but 
similar  experiments  tried  in  the  Mohawk  valley  by 
the  Palatine  Germans  failed,  because  the  famous 
"  Georgia  pine,"  the  great  tar-bearing  tree  of  this 
continent,  does  not  grow  north  of  southern  Virginia. 

When,  in  1693,  a  sn^P  from  Madagascar  came  in 
and  the  captain  gave  a  bag  of  rice  to  the  governor, 
a  new  era  of  agricultural  industry  and  of  commerce 
began.  This  Oriental  grain,  the  bread-food  of  Asia, 
found  in  southern  Carolina  a  soil  exactly  suited  to 
it.  The  farmers  planted  the  rice  on  the  swampy 
lands,  until  by  and  by  this  cereal  became  the  chief 
crop,  the  product  being  the  best  quality  in  the 
world.  South  Carolina  became  a  large  botanic 
garden  and  experimental  station  on  a  large  scale. 
Many  new  plants  were  offered  a  home  in  the  new 
soil,  among  others  indigo,  which  formerly  had  been 
raised  only  in  Asia.  This  also  was  found  to  be 
admirably  suited  to  the  fertile  and  marshy  land,  and 


1/6       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

became  a  standard  crop.  In  the  markets  of  Europe 
the  blue  coloring  matter  brought  over  a  dollar  a 
pound.  Indigo  was  followed  by  cotton,  which,  after 
the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin,  became  even  more 
lucrative,  making  South  Carolina  one  of  the  richest 
of  the  Southern  colonies  and  Charleston  the  metro- 
politan city  of  the  South.  Many  young  men  were 
sent  to  Europe  to  be  educated,  while  the  name  of 
the  colony,  because  of  its  large  trade  and  good  credit, 
was  well  and  favorably  known  in  many  countries. 

The  palmetto  tree,  both  for  utility  and  sentiment, 
is  the  tree  of  South  Carolina.  From  the  tender 
leaves  of  one  sort  may  be  made  food  and  from  the 
tough  ones  hats.  With  its  logs,  piers  that  defy  the 
teredo  mollusk  and  a  fort  that  harmlessly  absorbed 
British  cannon-balls  have  been  built.  Another 
species,  as  being  the  congenial  home  of  rattlesnakes, 
became  the  emblem  on  the  colonial  flag  of  the 
Palmetto  State,  though  another  flag  had  the  coiled 
reptile  itself  with  the  legend,  "  Don't  tread  on  me." 

In  1729  the  colony  was  divided  into  North  Caro- 
lina and  South  Carolina.  Then  it  ceased  to  be 
governed  by  proprietors  and,  being  under  direct 
control  of  the  king,  became  a  royal  province.  The 
Carolinas  were  the  first  of  the  twin  colonies  to  sepa- 
rate, as  the  Jerseys  were  the  first  pair  of  colonies 
of  the  same  name  to  unite  and  be  known  as  one 
region  and  community. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

GEORGIA,    THE    LAST    OF    THE    THIRTEEN    COLONIES. 


was  the  last  of  the  five  Southern 
colonies  settled.  Its  first  beginning  was  not 
until  the  days  of  the  generation  just  before  the  Rev- 
olutionary War.  It  was  a  period  of  great  financial 
distress  in  England.  Thousands  of  men  were  out 
of  employment  and  the  prisons  were  full  of  debtors. 
The  law  then  was  that  if  a  man  owed  even  a  few 
pence,  he  could  be  put  in  jail.  There  he  could 
save  himself  from  starvation  only  by  the  help  of  his 
friends,  or  by  begging  through  the  bars  of  the  cage 
in  which  he  was  kept.  John  Howard,  the  Baptist 
sheriff  of  Bedfordshire,  had  not  yet  come  to  reform 
the  prisons  of  England,  which  were  then  a  disgrace 
to  civilization  and  far  below  the  standard  of  Chris- 
tianity on  the  Continent. 

There  was  a  military  officer  named  James  Ed- 
ward Oglethorpe,  who  had  served  in  the  Netherland 
campaigns  under  the  Duke  of  Marlborough.  He 
had  no  doubt  seen  how  much  better  the  prisoners 
were  treated  on  the  Continent  and  certainly  in  Hol- 

177 


1/8       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

land.  Returning  from  the  wars,  he  spent  much 
time  among  the  prisons  of  London,  and  his  heart 
was  touched.  When  he  saw  such  widespread  mis- 
ery, he  determined  to  do  something  to  give  these 
poor  wretches  a  new  start  in  life.  America  then, 
as  now,  meant  opportunity.  His  scheme  met  with 
favor  from  the  British  government,  which  was  then 
under  a  new  dynasty,  —  that  of  German  princes 
named  Guelph,  from  Hanover.  Under  the  patron- 
age of  King  George  II.  a  fund  was  started  to  which 
private  individuals  generously  subscribed,  making  a 
sum  equal  to  more  than  half  a  million  dollars  in 
present  values.  It  was  also  thought  that  if  placed 
further  south  than  the  Carolinas,  the  new  colony 
would  help  to  protect  those  provinces  from  Spanish 
invasion. 

An  association  of  twenty-two  persons  was  formed, 
of  which  General  Oglethorpe,  then  in  the  prime  of 
life,  was  made  the  president,  and  of  which  the  Wes- 
leys  and  Whitfield  were  members.  The  present  state 
of  Georgia,  named  after  King  George  II.,  is  shaped 
somewhat  like  New  Hampshire,  especially  in  having 
a  large  inland  hilly  area  with  but  a  few  miles  of 
seacoast.  It  was  hoped  that  in  the  new  region  both 
wine  and  silk  could  be  produced  in  large  quantities. 
The  ship  Anne  left  England  November  17,  1732, 
the  same  year  in  which  Washington  was  born,  hav- 
ing one  hundred  and  thirty  persons,  in  thirty-five 


GEORGIA,  LAST   OF  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES.        179 

families,  among  whom  were  carpenters,  brick-layers, 
farmers,  and  mechanics. 

These  first  builders  of  a  new  commonwealth  were 
well  equipped  with  arms,  tools,  munitions,  and 
stores.  General  Oglethorpe  accompanied  them. 
Sailing  by  way  of  Madeira,  they  entered  the  Savan- 
nah River,  and  made  friendship  with  the  Yamakraw 
Indians,  through  Mary  Muskgrove,  the  daughter 
of  a  Canadian  trader  by  an  Indian  mother.  She 
persuaded  the  natives  of  the  friendly  intentions  of 
the  colonists,  and  secured  from  them  an  informal 
cession  of  the  land.  Thus,  through  a  woman's  tact 
and  friendly  offices,  the  way  of  success  was  made 
clear. 

Early  in  February,  the  colonists  began  to  mark 
out  the  squares  and  lots  of  the  beautiful  city  of 
Savannah,  Oglethorpe  working  hard  among  them 
every  day.  He  also  won  the  friendship  of  the 
Indians,  and  in  May,  1733,  invited  them  to  the  new 
settlement.  A  treaty  was  made  May  21,  by  which 
the  Creek  Indians  ceded  to  the  whites  a  large  tract 
of  territory,  and  for  many  years  the  whites  and  the 
reds  lived  together  like  brothers.  Equally  with 
Oglethorpe  should  honor  be  awarded  to  Tomo-chi- 
chi,  who  was  a  Mico,  or  chief  of  chiefs,  the  guide 
and  protector  of  the  founders  of  Georgia. 

Many  of  the  Palatine  Germans  and  Swiss  had 
already  settled  in  the  Carolinas.  Now  into  Georgia 


180       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

came  Germans  from  further  east,  besides  many  of 
the  Moravians.  In  the  Austrian  Salzburg,  prelati- 
cal  bigotry,  which  in  1498  had  expelled  the  Jews 
and  for  centuries  riveted  the  chains  of  despotism 
upon  the  people,  had  become  unbearable  to  the 
Lutherans.  Thirty  thousand  of  these  Bible-reading 
Christians,  driven  from  their  homes,  had  fled  into 
Holland  and  England.  Being  invited  to  settle  in 
Georgia,  they  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
British  king,  and  crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  In 
March  1734,  the  ship  Purisburg,  having  on  board 
seventy-eight  Salzburgers  with  their  ministers, 
arrived  in  the  colony.  Warmly  welcomed,  they 
founded  the  town  of  Ebenezer. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  many  towns  in  the 
United  States  have  been  named,  not  after  the  saints 
or  churchly  persons,  but  in  recognition  of  the  direct 
blessing  of  God.  Note  the  Biblical  or  early  Christian 
ideas,  words,  or  characters,  such  as  Philadelphia, 
Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Salem,  Providence,  Sharon, 
Ebenezer,  and  Pella.  Wherever  people  from  the 
Latin  nations  settled  in  America,  the  names  of 
saints  abound. 

The  next  year,  more  of  these  sober,  industrious, 
and  strongly  religious  people  of  Germany  came 
over.  The  Moravians,  who  followed,  quickly  began 
missionary  work  among  the  Indians.  After  these 
came  the  Scotsmen,  who,  under  Lieutenant  Hugh 


GEORGIA,   LAST   OF   THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES.        l8l 

Maclay,  had  been  recruited  from  the  Highlands 
of  old  Scotia.  They  were  brave  men  of  excellent 
character,  numbering  one  hundred  and  thirty,  with 
fifty  women  and  children,  and  were  led  by  their  own 
clergyman,  Rev.  John  McLeod  of  the  Island  of 
Skye.  With  their  plaids  and  their  broadswords, 
their  targets  and  muskets,  these  manly  countrymen 
of  Bruce  and  Wallace  were  just  the  men  to  ward  off 
Spanish  invasion.  After  them,  again,  followed  Ger- 
man Lutherans,  Moravians,  English  emigrants, 
Scotch-Irish  Quakers,  Mennonites,  and  others. 
Thus  in  Georgia,  as  in  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia, 
there  was  formed  a  miniature  New  Europe,  having 
a  varied  population,  with  many  sterling  qualities. 
The  history  of  England  was  repeated  in  the  blend- 
ing of  races,  and  with  the  same  result,  —  the  pro- 
duction of  an  admirable  stock,  from  which  have 
sprung  a  remarkable  number  of  men  and  women 
of  eminent  ability. 

There  was  great  popular  discontent  at  first, 
because  the  colony  had  been  placed  on  a  military 
or  feudal  basis.  The  regulations  of  the  company 
did  not  allow  self-government,  or  the  holding  of 
land  by  women,  or  the  importation  of  liquor  or  of 
slaves.  These  repressive  rules  prevented  competi- 
tion with  other  colonies,  while  the  ban  against 
Roman  Catholics  showed  that  entire  religious  lib- 
erty was  not  yet  known  in  Georgia.  The  Wesleys, 


1 82       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

John  and  Charles,  visited  the  colony,  but  were  not 
much  encouraged,  for  their  success  was  indifferent ; 
but  Whitfield  succeeded  in  establishing  an  orphan 
asylum  near  Savannah.  By  his  influence  slavery 
was  introduced  and  laws  were  passed  which  allowed 
a  better  land  tenure  and  removed  restrictions,  thus 
greatly  improving  commerce.  The  colonists  de- 
fended themselves  with  wisdom  and  valor  against 

O 

the  Spaniards.  In  1752  the  colony  became  a  royal 
province.  From  the  first  it  was  noticed  that  there 
were  oreat  riches  in  beds  of  coal  and  iron.  Later 

O 

on,  cotton  made  Georgia  one  of  the  wealthiest  of 
the  colonies  in  natural  products,  besides  leading  in 
the  trade  with  the  West  Indies. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

WILLIAM    PENN    AND    THE    JERSEYS. 

MEW  NETHERLAND  included  all  the  land 
1  ^  on  which  now  rest  the  four  Middle  states  of 
the  Union,  besides  part  of  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts, the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Champlain 
region,  and  the  unexplored  territory  westward. 
What  is  now  New  Jersey  was  first  occupied  by 
Dutch  inhabitants  in  1617.  The  traders  of  Man- 
hattan Island  crossed  over  the  river  and  at  a  place 
which  they  called  the  Hills,  or  Bergen,  they  erected, 
a  fortified  trading-post.  Then  moving  to  the  south- 
west, they  built  a  house  for  business  and  defence  at 
Gloucester,  on  the  river  opposite  the  site  of  Phila- 
delphia. Between  1614  and  1621,  there  was  con- 
siderable traffic  in  furs.  After  the  regular  settlers 
had  begun  agriculture  and  the  patroons  settled  their 
manors,  there  were  Dutch  farms,  shipyards,  and 
trading  stations. 

When  the  treacherous  attack  in  time  of  peace 
was  made  on  New  Netherland  by  the  Duke  of 
York,  this  ignoble  man  transferred  the  whole  terri- 
tory lying  between  the  Delaware  and  the  Hudson  to 

183 


184      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

two  of  his  friends,  Lord  John  Berkeley  and  Sir 
George  Carteret.  The  latter  had  been  governor  of 
one  of  the  Channel  Islands,  a  part  of  old  Normandy 
and  the  home  of  the  Alderney  cows.  It  is  named 
Jersey,  which  is  only  a  corruption  of  Caesarea.  In 
compliment  to  Carteret's  loyalty,  the  Duke  of  York, 
who  was  to  be  the  next  king  of  England,  named  the 
new  possessions  which  he  had  treacherously  gained, 
"  New  Jersey."  The  wits  afterwards  dubbed  him, 
when  James  II.,  the  "ape  of  Caesar."  In  honor 
of  Lady  Elizabeth  Carteret,  the  first  comers  under 
his  rule,  who  were  mostly  from  England,  named 
their  settlement  Elizabethtown,  or,  as  now  called, 
Elizabeth. 

The  people  were  granted  a  direct  voice  in  the 
government,  and  the  general  political  provisions 
were  made  with  a  liberality  that  attracted  even  more 
emigrants  from  the  Eastern  colonies  than  from 
Great  Britain.  At  Shrewsbury,  Middletown,  and  on 
other  sites  were  soon  thriving  towns.  One  party 
coming  from  England  made  a  home  on  the  banks 
of  the  Passaic  River  and  began  the  city  of  Newark. 
They  set  up  a  Congregational  church,  and  declared 
that  none  but  church  members  should  be  freemen 
of  the  town  or  have  a  vote. 

Difficulties  arose  between  Governor  Nichols 
of  New  York  and  the  proprietors  of  New  Jersey 
over  land  titles,  and  the  settlers  could  not  tell 


WILLIAM  PENN  AND    THE  JERSEYS.  185 

who  was  their  true  landlord.  When  Governor 
Nichols  determined  to  form  an  independent  govern- 
ment, the  old  governor  and  council  of  New  Jersey, 
finding  it  impossible  to  enforce  their  authority,  went 
over  to  England  to  appeal  to  the  Duke  of  York, 
who  declared  the  grants  under  the  authority  of 
Nichols  to  be  void. 

The  next  year  Lord  Berkeley,  discouraged  at  the 
management  of  affairs,  sold  his  one-half  interest  in 
the  province  for  less  than  five  thousand  dollars  to 
John  Fenwick  and  Edward  Billinge.  When  the 
new  proprietors  got  in  dispute  about  the  division  of 
their  property,  William  Penn  arbitrated  the  diffi- 
culty to  the  satisfaction  of  all.  In  1675  Fenwick, 
with  his  family  and  a  small  company  of  Friends, 
sailed  from  London  in  the  ship  Griffith,  which 
means  Great  Faith.  Entering  the  Delaware  Bay, 
they  landed  on  the  banks  of  the  creek.  In  gratitude 
to  God  and  in  love  to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  they 
named  their  settlement  Salem.  This  was  the  first 
permanent  English  colony  established  in  West  Jersey. 
For  a  long  time  this  region  was  spoken  of  as  "  The 
Jerseys,"  or,  as  people  then  pronounced  it,  "  The 
Jarseys."  Under  the  Friends,  self-government  and 
religious  liberty  were  enjoyed  and  many  industries, 
including  manufactures,  begun ;  but  the  trouble 
about  land  titles  never  ceased  until  the  proprietors 
put  the  two  colonies  under  the  British  crown. 


1 86       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Then  New  Jersey  was  united  in  government  to 
New  York,  not  becoming  a  separate  province  until 

I733- 

In  the  building  up  of  a  country,  the  people  are 

more  important  than  institutions.  In  the  making 
of  a  commonwealth,  men  are  more  than  measures. 
Some  writers  pay  attention  only  to  the  political 
side  of  history,  telling  us  about  princes  and  politi- 
cians, documents  and  charters,  but  seeming  almost 
to  forget  race  traits,  characteristics,  the  influence  of 
soil,  natural  features,  and  climate,  and  divine  Provi- 
dence. Yet  politics  show  but  one  side  of  man's 
nature,  and  the  doings  of  kings  and  their  favorites 
are  often  of  far  less  importance  than  the  people 
whom  they  serve  or  govern.  In  the  making  of  a 
country  like  ours,  we  must  not  forget  either  the 
splendid  quality  of  the  different  nationalities,  or  the 
social  forces,  or  the  ancestral  influences  that  made 
our  fathers  what  they  were.  It  is  well  to  remember 
that  the  women  as  well  as  the  men,  the  mothers  as 
well  as  the  fathers,  had  a  part  in  guiding  the  history 
which  made  our  nation. 

In  Europe  the  British  nations  were  not  the  only 
ones  engaged  in  the  struggle  for  liberty.  Indeed, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  Holland  led  the  van  of 
freedom  and  in  the  little  Dutch  republic  were 
trained  many  of  the  colonial  leaders  and  founders 
of  commonwealths.  Indeed,  we  may  say  the  major- 


WILLIAM  PENN  AND    THE  JERSEYS.  1 87 

ity  of  those  who  began  the  colonies  north  of  Mary- 
land were  educated  and  powerfully  influenced  in 
those  Dutch  United  States  which  were  the  fore- 
runner in  history  of  the  American  Commonwealth. 
Margaret  Jasper,  the  daughter  of  John  Jasper  of 
Amsterdam,  a  Dutch  lady,  married  Admiral  Sir 
William  Penn,  the  conqueror  of  Jamaica.  Her  son 
William  Penn  was  born  on  Tower  Hill,  in  London, 
October  14,  1644.  He  inherited  the  features  and 
the  disposition  of  his  mother,  as  well  as  her  native 
lancmaore  and  the  noblest  traits  of  the  Dutch  char- 

o       o 

acter.  His  mother  trained  him,  and  instilled  in  him 
the  best  traditions  of  her  race  and  country.  He 
saw  comparatively  little  of  his  father,  who  was  most 
of  the  time  at  sea,  engaged  in  the  British  naval  ser- 
vice. In  Chester  cathedral,  the  visiting  American 
can  sit  and  worship  to-day  under  British  flags  which 
once  waved  in  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson  and  Dela- 
ware, and  under  the  armor  of  Admiral  Penn. 

The  boy  Penn  was  sent  to  Christ  Church  Col- 
lege, Oxford.  George  Fox,  who  taught  doctrines 
very  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  Dutch  Men- 
nonites,  was  at  this  time  setting  forth  the  views  and 
founding  the  denomination  of  Christians  called 
"  Friends."  Under  the  preaching  of  Thomas  Lee, 
who  was  called  a  "Quaker,"  William  Penn  em- 
braced the  peaceful  doctrines  of  the  Friends.  He 
would  not  attend  the  college  services,  and  was  there- 


1 88       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

fore  expelled  from  the  University;  for  all  "chapel 
services  "  were  then  obligatory.  His  angry  father 
next  sent  him  to  Paris,  hoping  that  the  impressions 
made  by  the  Quaker  preacher  would  be  effaced  in 
the  gayety  of  the  French  capital.  In  Paris,  Penn 
studied  for  a  while  under  a  professor,  in  the  French 
Reformed  church,  and  then  travelled  in  France  and 
Italy.  When  he  came  back  to  England,  the  dread- 
ful scenes  of  the  plague  in  London  made  him  very 
serious  again.  To  overcome  this  state  of  mind,  his 
worldly  father  sent  him  to  Ireland,  where  in  an  in- 
surrection among  the  soldiers,  at  Carrick  Fergus 
Castle,  the  admiral's  son  served  in  its  suppression  as 
a  volunteer  under  Lord  Arran.  It  was  at  this  time 
that  the  portrait  which  represents  William  Penn, 
in  armor,  a  young  man  of  twenty-two,  was  painted. 
In  Ireland,  Penn  again  came  under  the  influence  of 
the  Friends'  preacher  Lee,  and  suffered  arrest  at 
a  "  Quaker  meeting."  This  experience  again  alien- 
ated his  father,  who  relented  when  he  found  out 
how  sincere  in  convictions  his  son  was. 

Penn  now  began  to  write  industriously  in  defence 
of  his  views  and  to  obtain  toleration  in  behalf  of  the 
Quakers.  Charged  with  heresy,  he  was  impris- 
oned in  the  Tower,  where  he  wrote  the  book,  "  No 
Cross,  No  Crown."  Again  released  and  again  im- 
prisoned, he  penned,  while  behind  bars,  "  The  Great 
Cause  of  Liberty  of  Conscience  Debated." 


WILLIAM  PENN  AND    THE  JERSEYS.  189 

The  prison,  as  in  all  history,  proved  to  be  one  of 
the  best  places  for  the  making  of  good  books,  some 
of  the  world's  noblest  literature,  including  a  large 
portion  of  the  Bible,  having  been  written  behind 
bars  by  men  who  were  convicts  but  not  criminals. 
William  Penn  would  have  been  a  great  man  and 
well  remembered  in  our  day,  even  if  he  had  done 
nothing  more  than  write,  but  his  prison  experience 
made  him  a  statesman  also.  Reflection  led  him  to 
think  that  the  dreams  and  plans  of  Sir  Thomas 
More,  author  of  the  wonderful  book  called  "  Utopia," 
and  of  James  Harrington,  who  penned  "  The  Com- 
monwealth of  Oceana,"  could  be  realized  upon  the 
solid  earth.  The  cathedral  exists  in  the  brain,  and 
the  plans  on  paper,  before  delver,  mason,  roofer,  or 
artist  does  his  part.  So  in  all  ages,  noble  men,  who 
are  the  architects  of  progress,  have  built  up  civiliza- 
tion in  thought  first,  before  they  or  others  have 
actually  begun  by  work  of  hand  to  realize  it  in 
substance. 

Sir  Thomas  More,  the  intimate  friend  of  Erasmus, 
the  Rotterdammer,  had  in  his  "  Utopia,"  or  Nowhere, 
written  an  account  of  an  imaginary  commonwealth 
in  a  distant  island  of  the  Atlantic,  of  which  the 
manners,  laws,  and  state  of  society  were  depicted  as 
models  worthy  of  English  imitation.  This  political 
romance  concerning  "  The  Happy  States  of  the 
Republic,  and  the  New  Island  of  Nowhere,"  written 


1 90      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

in  Latin  and  printed  on  the  Continent,  in  1516,  ex- 
cited universal  admiration.  Except  Venice  on  the 
waters  and  Switzerland  in  the  mountains,  republics, 
even  when  imaginary,  had  to  be  located  out  in  the 
distant  sea,  the  far  Atlantic. 

James  Harrington,  born  five  years  before  the 
death  of  Shakespeare,  was  an  Oxford  student  who, 
as  soon  as  he  had  travelled  in  Holland,  began  to  be 
interested  in  problems  of  government.  He  served 
in  the  Dutch  war  for  freedom,  imbibed  republican 
ideas.  He  was  much  at  The  Hague,  and  familiar 
with  the  court  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  then 
visited  Italy.  Seeing  how  well  republicanism,  both 
in  Holland  and  at  Venice,  had  prospered,  he  became 
deeply  interested  in  political  science.  On  his  return 
to  England,  he  wrote  out  his  wonderful  dream  of 
the  future  called  "  Oceana."  This  book,  by  an  en- 
thusiastic republican,  is  the  description  of  an  ideal 
republic,  and  is  dedicated  to  Oliver  Cromwell. 
Harrington's  "  Oceana  "  expresses  his  hope  of  that 
England  to  come  which  we,  in  our  day,  see  and 
which  is  yet  coming.  It  is  full  of  fancy  and  of 
common  sense,  and  cautiously  written  so  as  not  to 
excite  suspicion.  In  it  we  see  a  great  deal  of  what 
is  now  commonplace  and  matter  of  fact,  both  in 
England  and  the  United  States  of  America. 

"Oceana"  had  a  great  influence  on  the  mind  of 
William  Penn,  who  determined  to  put  the  ideas  of 


WILLIAM  PENN  AND    THE  JERSEYS.  191 

More  and  Harrington  in  practice.  He  went  over 
to  his  mother's  home  land,  becoming  greatly  inter- 
ested in  federal  government  and  the  Dutch  civiliza- 
tion. Returning,  honored  and  trusted,  he  was 
called  on  to  arbitrate  and  to  gain  much  experience 
in  settling  the  quarrels  between  Fenwick  and  Bil- 
lynge,  about  their  possessions  in  New  Jersey. 
After  his  release  from  imprisonment  and  the  pub- 
lication of  his  book  on  Liberty  of  Conscience,  Penn 
travelled  again  through  Holland  and  Friesland  and 
in  Germany.  He  talked  with  and  preached  to  the 
Dutch  in  their  own  language,  winning  many  con- 
verts to  the  doctrine  of  the  Friends.  In  Friesland, 
he  was  struck  with  the  democratic  spirit  of  the  people 
and  the  forms  of  their  government,  some  of  the 
features  of  which  he  afterwards  introduced  into 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 

Penn  made  a  second  missionary  journey  to  the 
Continent  in  company  with  George  Fox,  Robert 
Barclay,  and  George  Keith.  Besides  preaching  to 
the  Dutch  in  his  mother's  tongue,  he  visited  Rot- 
terdam and  many  Holland  towns,  and  went  again 
into  Frisia,  where  the  language  is  so  much  like 
English.  He  also  travelled  through  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, and  the  Lower  Rhine,  making  a  special  im- 
pression upon  the  Dutch  and  German  Mennonites, 
the  forerunners  of  the  Friends.  Those  from  Cre- 
feld  had  a  large  part  in  the  settlement  of  German- 


IQ2       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

town  in  Pennsylvania.  Those  who  came  from 
Kircheim  are  noted  as  the  first  in  America  to  de- 
clare it  unlawful  for  Christians  to  hold  slaves. 

Returning  to  his  home,  Penn  pleaded  with  pen 
and  tongue  that  England  should  grant  the  same  tol- 
eration to  the  Friends  which  he  had  seen  common 
to  all  sects  in  the  Netherlands.  But  toleration  for 
"  Dissenters  "  then  seemed  as  far  off  as  ever  and 
the  future  of  English  politics  under  King  Charles 
II.  hopeless.  Penn  therefore  turned  his  eyes  to 
America,  determined  to  carry  out  his  experiment 
of  "  a  godly  commonwealth "  where  conscience 
should  be  as  free  as  in  Holland,  and  where  the  ideas 
of  prison  reform  which  he  had  got  from  the  same 
country,  and  the  political  privileges,  making  men  as 
free  as  in  "  Free  Frisia,"  should  become  reality. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

PENN'S  EXPERIMENT  OF  A  GODLY  COMMONWEALTH. 

OENN  had  been  fined  for  not  removing  his  hat 
*  in  court,  but  he  was  released  in  time  to  be 
present  at  his  father's  death  on  September  16, 
1670.  He  then  found  himself  in  possession  of  a 
fortune  yielding  an  income  of  fifteen  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  besides  a  claim  on  the  crown  of 
fifteen  thousand  pounds  lent  by  his  father  to 
Charles  II. 

Knowing  of  this  royal  debt,  and  thinking  it 
might  be  commuted  in  American  lands,  Penn 
applied,  June  24,  1680,  "for  a  tract  of  land  in 
America  north  of  Maryland,  bounded  on  the  east 
by  the  Delaware,  on  the  west  limited  as  Maryland, 
northward  as  far  as  plantable."  This  meant  a  terri- 
tory three  hundred  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  in  dimensions,  very  fertile  and  rich  in  mineral 
wealth.  He  suggested  the  name  Sylvania,  but  the 
king  added  the  name  Penn  in  honor  of  the  late  ad- 
miral. Although  Penn  strenuously  objected,  he 
could  not  get  the  name  changed,  and  so  he  became 
lord  of  Pennsylvania. 

193 


IQ4      THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

The  "  Groves  of  Perm,"  fronting  on  the  Delaware 
River  and  containing  nearly  fifty  thousand  square 
miles,  were  in  area  as  large  as  the  whole  of  England. 
Penn  now  sent  word  to  his  friends  in  Scotland,  Ger- 
many, and  the  Dutch  states  and  encouraged  the  for- 
mation of  the  society  of  the  "  Free  Society  of 
Traders  in  Pennsylvania "  and  other  adventurers. 
A  party  of  pioneers  was  sent  out  in  1681.  Penn 
then  drew  up  a  body  of  conditions  and  concessions. 
This  constitution  savored  strongly  of  Harrington's 
"  Oceana,"  but  also  borrowed  very  much  that  was 
actually  in  practical  working  in  the  Dutch  repub- 
lic, especially  in  Friesland.  It  was  democratic  in 
the  purest  sense.  A  council  of  seventy-two  was 
chosen  by  universal  suffrage  every  three  years,  one- 
third  retiring  each  year,  after  the  Dutch  manner. 
Having  written  to  the  Indians  inviting  their  friend- 
ship, Penn  sailed  with  a  hundred  of  his  comrades 
from  Deal,  in  the  ship  Welcome,  September  i,  1682. 
Small-pox  broke  out  on  board,  and  one-third  of 
the  passengers  died.  This  was  a  hundred  years 
before  Dr.  Jenner  and  vaccination. 

When  Penn  landed  at  New  Castle,  Delaware, 
October  27,  he  was  welcomed  by  the  Swedes  and 
Dutch  already  settled  there,  and  received  formal 
possession. 

The  ceremonies  of  transfer,  which  took  place  in 
the  presence  of  nearly  the  whole  white  population 


WILLIAM  PENN  TAKING  FORMAL  POSSESSION  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


EXPERIMENT   OF  A    GODLY  COMMONWEALTH.      195 

of  Pennsylvania,  who  assembled  as  witnesses,  were 
borrowed  from  the  Dutch.  A  sod  was  cut  from  the 
ground  with  a  spade  and  handed  to  William  Penn, 
significant  of  the  fact  that  he  was  lord  of  the  whole 
territory,  owning  the  land  and  all  that  grew  on  it. 
Then  a  drinking  vessel,  filled  with  Delaware  River 
water,  was  offered  him,  which  signified  that  he  owned 
the  water  as  well  as  the  bottom  of  the  river.  In  the 
third  place,  a  key  of  the  fort  was  put  in  his  charge, 
completing  the  transfer,  and  signifying  that  he  had 
the  right  of  holding  both  land  and  water  by  force. 

The  Assembly  met  at  once,  and,  on  the  7th  of 
December  passed  "  The  great  law  of  Pennsylvania." 
This,  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  colonial  constitutions, 
showed  that  Pennsylvania  was  to  be  a  Christian  state 
on  the  model  of  the  Friends,  who  had  not  a  single 
musket  among  them,  or  firearms  of  any  sort.  Only 
one  condition  was  made  necessary  for  citizenship  or 
office :  namely,  Christianity.  All  offices  were  elec- 
tive, and  the  general  order  was  purely  democratic. 
Monopolies  were  not  allowed.  The  penalty  of  death, 
for  all  offences  except  murder,  was  abolished. 

Penn  had  great  faith  in  the  principles  of  arbitration. 
He  believed  that  the  Scripture  exhortation, "  Let  the 
peace  of  God  arbitrate  in  your  hearts,"  could  be  car- 
ried out  in  practice,  not  only  among  individuals,  but 
even  between  states.  While  in  the  Netherlands,  he 
had  been  impressed  with  the  unity,  power,  and  peace- 


196       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

fulness  of  a  republic  in  which  there  were  manifold 
sources  of  authority.  There  were  cities  with  their 
municipal1  charters,  noblemen  with  their  manors, 
states  with  their  legislatures,  and  the  general  na- 
tional government  at  The  Hague.  Here  was  unity 
amid  diversity  —  e  pluribus  ununi  —  besides  social 
harmony  among  men  of  all  kinds  of  religious  belief, 
-Jews,  Agnostics,  Unitarians,  Trinitarians,  Lu- 
therans, Calvinists,  Arminians,  and  Mennonites,  liv- 
ing quietly  in  peace.  Later  on,  having  successfully 
carried  out  his  principle  in  Pennsylvania,  he  wrote 
"A  Plan  for  the  Peace  of  Europe,"  in  which  he  puts 
forth  the  idea  of  a  great  court  of  arbitration,  like  that 
which  is  being  attempted  in  this  our  day,  under 
the  administrations  of  Presidents  Cleveland  and 
McKinley.  Though  the  vision  tarry,  Penn  was  a 
true  prophet,  as  well  as  a  follower  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  who  took  Jesus  seriously. 

His  frame  of  government  for  the  white  settlers 

O 

having  been  formed,  Penn  gathered  the  Lenni- 
Lenape  aborigines,  who  belonged  to  the  Algonquin 
group  of  tribes.  These  Delaware  River  Indians 
and  others  assembled  under  a  great  elm  tree  at 
Shackamaxon,  the  native  name  of  the  suburb  of 
Philadelphia  afterwards  called  Kensington.  Fifty 
years  of  kind  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Swedes 
and  Dutch,  both  of  whom  had  paid  for  their  lands 
and  traded  honestly,  had  smoothed  the  way  for  the 


EXPERIMENT  OF  A    GODLY  COMMONWEALTH.      197 

Friends,  who  had  no  trouble  with  their  red  brethren. 
Without  any  oath  and  with  mutual  frankness,  a  cov- 
enant of  friendship  was  entered  into,  "  never  sworn 
to  and  never  broken."  For  sixty  years,  so  long  as 
the  Friends  had  control  of  the  government,  this  com- 
pact was  never  violated. 

In  Indian  custom,  the  document,  equivalent  to 
our  engrossed  parchment  record,  with  signatures 
solemnly  attested  by  a  great  seal  of  wax  held  by 
ribbons,  was  a  belt  of  wampum.  This  was  handed 
to  Penn  with  eloquent  speeches  and  solemn  cere- 
monies. It  consisted  of  long  strings  of  white  shells, 
varied  with  three  oblique  bands  of  black.  Wrought 
in  the  centre  are  two  figures,  of  a  bareheaded  Indian 
and  a  white  man  with  a  hat  on,  who  are  clasping 
hands  in  token  of  friendship.  The  old  tree  grew  near 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  not  far  away  from  where 
the  later  "Free  Quakers  "and  shipbuilders,  Manuel 
and  Jehu  Eyre,  launched  the  first  gunboats  for  the 
Continental  Congress.  The  monument  on  its  site 
—  for  it  was  blown  down  in  1811  — stands  near  the 
great  shipyard,  in  which  the  splendid  steel  battle- 
ships of  our  modern  United  States  navy  have  been 
constructed  and  launched  by  the  Cramps. 

Penn  laid  out  the  capital  city,  according  to  a  plan 
which  he  had  borrowed  from  Babylon  and  had 
elaborated  before  leaving  England.  The  streets 
were  to  run  north  and  south  and  east  and  west. 


198       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Those  between  the  two  rivers,  the  Delaware  and 
Schuylkill,  were  numbered  in  consecutive  order, 
from  Front  or  First  Street  to  the  Fourteenth  or 
Broad,  and  beyond.  Those  running  east  and  west 
were  called  after  the  trees  of  the  forest,  Chestnut, 
Walnut,  Spruce,  Pine,  etc.,  and  the  fruits,  Mulberry, 
Raspberry,  etc.  He  named  his  new  city  Philadel- 
phia, or  Brotherly  Love,  its  motto  being  that  of 
the  first  verse  of  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Hebrews 
—  Philadelphia  Man-do,  "  Let  brotherly  love  con- 
tinue." The  city  grew  very  rapidly,  and  within  two 
years  contained  three  hundred  houses  and  a  popu- 
lation of  twenty-five  hundred.  People  of  the  four 
British  nations  and  Swedes,  Germans,  Dutch,  and 
Swiss  poured  rapidly  into  the  new  province.  Later 
on,  with  the  coming  of  the  Ulstermen,  the  population 
in  forty-eight  years,  from  1701  to  1749,  increased 
over  twelvefold,  from  twenty  thousand  to  a  quarter 
of  a  million  souls. 

At  Germantown,  settled  by  the  Dutch  and  Ger- 
mans, mostly  Mennonites,  new  industries  were  in- 
troduced, especially  the  making  of  wine,  the  working 
of  silk,  and  the  weaving  of  linen.  The  town  seal 
consists  of  a  clover  leaf,  on  one  lobe  of  which  is  a 
bunch  of  grapes,  on  another  a  distaff  of  flax,  and 
on  another  a  spool  of  silk,  with  the  motto,  Vinum, 
linum  et  textrinum.  Here  lived  Daniel  Pastorius, 
then  the  most  learned  man  in  America. 


EXPERIMENT  OF  A    GODLY    COMMONWEALTH.      199 

Pennsylvania  is  sometimes  called  "  The  American 
German's  Holy  Land."  Let  us  see  why.  To-day, 
as  the  tourist  visits  Heidelberg  on  the  Neckar,  or 
sails  down  the  Rhine  from  Spires  or  Mannheim 
to  Cologne,  he  sees  many  ivy-mantled  ruins,  which 
show  how  terribly  Louis  XIV.  of  France  desolated 
this  region  during  his  ferocious  wars.  Angry  at 
the  Germans  and  Dutch  for  sheltering  his  hunted 
Huguenots,  and  at  the  British  for  deposing  James 
II.  and  welcoming  William  III.  of  Holland,  he 
invaded  the  Rhine  Palatinate,  which  became  for  a 
whole  generation  the  scene  of  French  fire,  pillage, 
rapine,  and  slaughter.  Added  to  these  troubles  of 
war  and  politics,  were  those  of  religious  persecu- 
tion ;  for,  according  as  the  prince  electors  were 
Protestant  or  Catholic,  so  the  people  were  expected 
to  change  as  suited  their  rulers,  who  compelled  their 
subjects  to  be  of  the  same  faith.  In  the  middle 
ages,  and  until  the  Dutch  changed  it,  the  formula 
was  ejus  regio,  cujus  religio,  which  meant  that  the 
prince  ruled  both  land  and  conscience.  Tired  of 
their  long-endured  miseries,  the  Palatine  Germans, 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  fled  to  England. 
Under  the  protection  and  kindly  care  of  the  British 
government,  they  were  aided  to  come  to  America. 
About  five  thousand  settled  in  the  Hudson,  Mohawk, 
and  Schoharie  valleys  in  New  York,  and  over  twenty- 
five  thousand  in  Pennsylvania,  chiefly  in  the  Schuyl- 


200      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

kill  and  Swatara  region  between  Bethlehem  and 
Harrisburg.  Later  came  Germans  from  other  parts 
of  the  Fatherland,  making  colonists  rich  in  the 
sturdy  virtues  of  the  Teutonic  race. 

Though  poor,  these  Germans  were  very  intelli- 
gent, holding  on  to  their  Bibles  and  having  plenty 
of  schools  and  schoolmasters.  In  the  little  Men- 
nonite  meeting-house  at  Germantown,  on  the  iSth 
of  February,  1688,  they  declared  against  the  unlaw- 
fulness of  holding  their  fellow-men  in  bondage, 
and  raised  the  first  ecclesiastical  protest  against 
slavery  in  America.  In  Penn's  colony  also  the  first 
book  written  and  published  in  America  against 
slavery  was  by  one  of  these  German  Christians. 
Anthony  Benezet,  who  was  a  Huguenot  Quaker 
and  a  schoolmaster,  wrote  tracts  on  religious  liberty 
and  against  negro  slavery.  These  powerfully  stim- 
ulated the  mind  of  William  Wilberforce  of  Eng- 
land, the  great  philanthropist  who  opposed  the  war 
with  America,  and  pleaded  for  the  emancipation  of 
Catholics  and  the  abolition  of  slavery. 

The  Pennsylvania  Germans  also  published  the 
first  Bible  in  any  European  tongue  ever  printed  in 
America.  It  was  they  who  first  called  Washington 
"  the  father  of  his  country."  In  their  dialect,  still 
surviving  in  some  places,  made  up  of  old  German 
and  modern  expressions,  some  pretty  poems  and 
charming  stories  have  been  written.  Tenacious  in 


EXPERIMENT   OF  A    GODLY  COMMONWEALTH.      2OI 

holding  their  lands,  thorough  in  method,  apprecia- 
tive of  most  of  what  is  truest  and  best  in  our  na- 
tion's life,  but  not  easily  -led  away  by  mere  novelties 
and  justly  distrustful  of  what  is  false  and  unjust, 
even  though  called  "  American,"  the  Germans  have 
furnished  in  our  national  composite  an  element  of 
conservatism  that  bodes  well  for  the  future  of  the 
republic. 

The  central  and  western  parts  of  Pennsylvania 
were  later  settled  by  Irish  and  Scottish  people. 
Philadelphia  grew  so  rapidly  that  at  the  end  of  colo- 
nial life,  it  was  the  largest  and  most  important  city 
in  North  America,  the  literary  centre,  and  the  place 
of  the  first  beginning  of  schools  for  women.  In  its 
free  atmosphere,  Benjamin  Franklin  found  his  place 
of  development.  Here  were  the  ablest  lawyers,  the 
first  philosophic  and  scientific  societies ;  here  lived 
and  worked  the  first  American  astronomer,  Ritten- 
house;  and  here  originated  many  first  things  which 
have  so  powerfully  influenced  the  nation  at  large. 
In  many  other  ways  Philadelphia  has  been  a  pio- 
neer city. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

NEW    SWEDEN    AND    DELAWARE. 

IN  the  era'  of  discovery,  Scandinavia  and  Italy 
were  the  two  maritime  countries  of  Europe  that 
helped  to  unveil  America,  yet  neither  possessed  any 
part  of  it.  Even  little  Denmark  owned  Greenland, 
a  small  continent  by  itself,  but  with  only  a  habi- 
table strip  of  seacoast. 

Sweden  had  sent  no  explorers  to  America  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  though  half  a  millennium  before 
the  Norsemen  had  made  voyages  across  the  Atlan- 
tic and  had  begun  settlements  in  North  America. 
From  these,  however,  the  governments  of  Norway 
and  Sweden  made  no  claim  of  territory,  any  more 
than  did  the  crown  of  England  claim  the  Pacific 
coast  because  Sir  Francis  Drake  had  visited  it. 

The  Dutch  navigators  first  explored  and  mapped 
the  coast  of  Delaware  and  entered  its  waters,  giving 
their  names  to  Capes  May  and  Henlopen,  which  jut 
out  from  opposite  points  of  land,  forming  the  gate- 
way to  the  noble  bay.  The  later  name  of  the 
colony  came  from  the  river,  in  which  Lord  de  la 
Warr,  the  captain-general  of  Virginia,  had  at  one 


NEW  SWEDEN  AND  DELAWARE.  203 

time  found  shelter.  The  first  actual  settlement  by 
De  Vries,  a  Dutch  commander  whose  name  means 
"the  Frisian,"  was  made  in  1630,  near  Lewes,  where 
to-day  is  the  great  breakwater  within  which  hun- 
dreds of  ships  and  coasting  vessels  anchor  for  shel- 
ter during  times  of  severe  storm.  De  Vries'  colony 
was  destroyed  by  the  Indians. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  noble  king  of  Sweden 
and  the  great  leader  of  the  forces  of  Reformed 
Christianity  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  had  a 
great  desire  to  plant  a  colony  in  America,  and  as 
early  as  1627  plans  were  perfected  for  this  purpose. 
Soon  he  was  obliged  to  lead  his  army  across  the 
Baltic  Sea,  and  being  kept  long  in  the  tented  field, 
his  American  enterprises  had  to  bide  their  time. 
Gustavus  Adolphus  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Lut- 
zen  in  1632,  but  his  famous  chancellor,  Oxenstiern, 
carried  out  his  lamented  sovereign's  desire.  Peter 
Minuit  entered  the  Swedish  service,  and  in  1637, 
with  a  ship  of  war  and  a  smaller  vessel,  he  led  a 
colony  of  Swedes  and  Finns,  with  their  chaplain,  to 
the  Delaware  River  region,  between  Cape  Henlo- 
pen  and  Christiana  Creek.  They  bought  land  of 
the  Indians  and  called  the  country  New  Sweden. 
By  treaty,  the  land  "ceded  to  the  Swedish  crown 
forever"  extended  from  Christiana  Creek  to  the 
falls  of  the  Susquehanna  River.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  stream  they  built  a  fort  and  a  house  of  worship, 


2O4      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

which  was  the  first  Lutheran  church  edifice  on  this 
continent.  Their  chief  settlement,  near  the  present 
city  of  Wilmington,  was  named  Christiana,  after 
the  virgin  Queen  of  Sweden.  Minuit  had  to  write 
the  deed  of  transfer  in  Dutch,  for  none  of  the 
Indians  understood  Swedish.  The  savages  made 
signature  to  the  document  with  their  marks  or 
totems. 

A  second  company  of  immigrants  from  Sweden, 
under  Colonel  John  Printz,  came  over  in  1642. 
Their  chaplain,  Campanius,  at  once  proceeded  to 
learn  the  tongue  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  and  after 
a  while  preached  to  them  the  gospel.  Luther's 
Catechism  was  soon  translated,  —  probably  the  first 
Protestant  book  in  an  American  dialect,  —  though 
it  was  not  printed  until  some  years  later.  In  1669, 
on  the  pretty  green  slopes  of  Wicaco,  within  the 
limits  of  the  later  Philadelphia  and  near  the  Dela- 
ware River,  the  original  of  the  present  octagon 
stone  edifice,  "  The  Old  Swedes'  Church,"  was  built 
of  logs. 

The  Dutch  considered  the  Swedes  intruders, 
and  built  a  fort  at  New  Castle,  five  miles  below 
them.  In  1655  Governor  Stuyvesant  led  an  expe- 
dition, of  seven  ships  with  seven  hundred  men, 
from  Manhattan  into  the  Delaware,  and  took 
possession  of  the  country.  Most  of  the  Swedes, 
some  of  them  settling  in  New  Jersey  and  some  in 


NEW  SWEDEN  AND   DELAWARE. 


2O5 


Delaware,  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Dutch 
republic.  When,  in  1664,  the  Duke  of  York  con- 
quered New  Netherland,  he  claimed  Delaware  as 
belonging  to  him,  but  afterwards  sold  it  to  William 
Penn,  though  Lord  Baltimore  also  claimed  it.  It 
was  considered  a  part  of  Pennsylvania,  but  had  its 
separate  Assembly,  and  until  the  Revolution  was 
always  spoken  of  as  "  the  three  lower  counties  on 
the  Delaware." 

Most  of  the  Swedes  and  Dutch  remained  under 
Penn's  government,  and  were  glad  to  do  so.  These 
Swedish  Lutherans  were  the  advance  guard  of  a 
great  host  of  Christian  people  in  America  who 
now  number  millions  and  are  rich  in  churches,  col- 
leges, schools,  education,  the  religious  press,  and 
in  works  of  charity  and  missionary  zeal.  The 
disciples  of  Luther  who  come  to  this  country  are 
from  many  lands  and  speak  various  languages,  but 
English  is  usually  the  tongue  of  the  second  genera- 
tion in  America.  Within  the  present  century  a 
great  host  of  Swedes  and  Norwegians  have  settled 
in  the  great  Northwest. 

Geography  was  not  a  science  especially  culti- 
vated in  Great  Britain,  and  even  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society  was  not  founded  until  1830.  Nor 
was  surveying  very  accurately  done.  So  long  as 
kings  gave  away,  on  parchment,  vast  tracts  of 
territory,  mensuration  was  in  a  rude  state.  Land 


2O6       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

in  gullies,  swamps,  stony  areas,  or  not  thought  valu- 
able was  often  neglected.  The  settlers  "stepped  off  " 
their  ground  or  took  lengths  by  means  of  poles, 
ropes,  or  harness  reins.  In  the  west  country  be- 
yond the  coast,  settlements  were  as  yet  unknown, 
but  even  in  the  region  between  the  mountains  and 
the  sea-beach,  there  were  many  boundary  disputes 
between  the  colonial  governments.  Not  only  this, 
but  France,  Spain,  England,  and  the  Netherlands 
had  much  trouble  and  contention  over  their  various 
claims,  and  the  alleged  lines  of  demarcation. 

Some  of  the  wars  fought  on  the  American  con- 

o 

tinent  were  over  boundary  lines,  as  many  wars 
often  are  yet.  While  nations  are  greedy  and  ambi- 
tious, and  some  weak,  and  some  strong,  there  will 
always  be  a  tendency  to  "  rectify  the  frontier  "  in 
ways  not  strictly  righteous,  —  especially  when  it 
is  uncertain  on  which  side  gold  mines,  or  fisheries, 
or  other  sources  of  wealth  may  lie.  The  main 
trouble  is  that,  usually,  diplomatists  sitting  in  easy- 
chairs  in  pleasant  rooms  prefer  to  settle  such  ques- 
tions over  a  table  with  maps  and  pencils,  instead 
of  having  the  work  done  by  surveyors.  From  the 
days  of  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal  and  King  Fer- 
dinand of  Spain,  to  our  time  of  the  Venezuela 
Boundary  Commission  and  the  Klondike  line,  these 
things  have  led  to  excitement  and  even  war. 

William  Penn,  besides  giving  the  United  States 


NEW  SWEDEN  AND  DELAWARE.  2O? 

of  America  other  noted  precedents  and  examples, 
showed  how  a  boundary  line  ought  to  be  made,  — 
not  by  closet  geographers  or  greedy  diplomatists, 
each  one  eager  to  overreach  the  other,  but  by 
actual  surveyors  working  on  the  ground  between 
the  earth  and  the  stars,  with  instruments  of  pre- 
cision and  producing  results  wrought  out  by 
scholarly  mathematicians.  So,  while  courts  and 
cabinets  talked  by  the  month,  employed  platoons 
of  secretaries,  over  maps  and  documents,  and 
fired  bags  of  despatches  at  each  other,  the  suc- 
cessors of  William  Penn  rectified  the  blunder 
committed  through  royal  ignorance  of  geography, 
and  which  had  caused  disputes  for  nearly  a  century. 
The  boundary  between  Pennsylvania  and  Dela- 
ware was  agreed  upon  by  the  proprietors  to  be 
the  arc  of  a  circle,  drawn  with  a  radius  of  twelve 
miles  from  the  court  house  at  New  Castle  on  the 
Delaware  to  the  Maryland  border.  Arrangements 
were  also  made  for  a  boundary  west,  and  commis- 
sioners were  appointed  to  run  the  lines.  This 
was  in  1732,  the  year  in  which  Washington, 
the  surveyor  and  engineer,  was  born.  Chancery 
suits  were  the  chief  result  of  the  imperfect  work 
of  1739  and  1750.  Then  other  commissioners 
were  appointed.  The  surveyors  began  operations, 
and  spent  three  years  in  measuring  the  line  sepa- 
rating Delaware  from  Maryland. 


208       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

The  proprietors  then  selected  the  more  skilled 
mathematicians,  Messrs.  Mason  and  Dixon,  who 
verified  the  work  of  their  predecessors,  and  ran 
the  western  line,  beginning  on  November  6,  1 763. 
They  were  stopped  by  the  Indians  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1767,  when  244  miles  west  of  the  Dela- 
ware, and  only  36  miles  east  of  the  terminus 
they  were  seeking.  Stones  were  erected  at  the 
intervals  of  a  mile,  and  on  every  fifth  stone,  on  its 
opposite  sides,  were  engraved  the  arms  of  Lord 
Baltimore  and  William  Penn.  In  1782  the  re- 
mainder of  the  boundary  was  completed  and 
marked.  This  famous  line  became  in  the  popular 
idea,  especially  in  Europe,  the  demarcation  between 
what  later  were  known  as  the  Northern  and  South- 
ern or  between  the  slave  and  the  free  states.  The 
line  fixed  by  the  Missouri  Compromise  in  1820, 
however,  was  at  36°  30',  while  that  between  Mary- 
land and  Pennsylvania  is  at  39°  43'  of  north  latitude. 

When  Delaware  became  an  independent  state,  a 
blue  flag  with  white  stars  was  adopted  as  the  sign 
of  sovereignty.  This  flag  was  humorously  spoken 
of  as  resembling  "  a  speckled  blue  hen,"  and  the 
people  "  The  Blue  Hen's  Chickens."  Delaware's 
colonial  history  falls  under  that  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  as  a  state,  its  war-ships  were  the  very  first  to 
salute  the  stars  and  stripes  afloat.  Delaware  led 
the  thirteen  states  in  adopting  the  Constitution. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

GERMANIC  OR  LATIN   CIVILIZATION  IN  NORTH   AMERICA? 

T^HREE  great  European  powers  struggled  during 
1  two  centuries  for  the  control  of  North  America. 
They  were  Spain,  France,  and  Great  Britain.  So 
long  as  Spain  was  so  fully  occupied  with  South 
America,  Mexico,  and  the  West  Indies,  and  espe- 
cially while  her  best  armies  were  being  beaten  by 
the  Dutch  republicans  in  fighting  for  their  inde- 
pendence, there  was  little  likelihood  of  her  making 
good  her  claims  to  all  America. 

On  the  north  the  French  and  their  allies,  the 
Algonquin  Indians,  gave  the  Eastern  colonists  much 
anxiety  in  their  early  days,  and  later  led  to  greater 
military  expeditions.  One  of  the  first  combinations 
was  the  New  England  Confederation.  For  mutual 
defence,  the  four  colonies  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven  formed  a 
league  which  lasted  over  forty  years.  Maine  and 
Rhode  Island  desired  to  join  the  Union,  but  the  for- 
mer was  refused  because  the  worship  of  the  church 
of  England  was  maintained  there,  and  the  latter 
because  religion  was  free. 

209 


210      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

It  was  the  Plymouth  men,  who  had  lived  under 
a  federal  government  in  the  Dutch  republic,  who 
proposed  this  union.  The  model  was  evidently 
that  of  the  States-General,  both  in  detail  and  gen- 
eral procedure. 

In  all  federal  governments,  it  is  a  vital  principle 
that  each  state  or  represented  body,  large  or  small, 
have  equal  representation  ;  but  where  one  state,  in 
population  or  wealth,  is  equal  or  nearly  so  to  all  the 
others  combined,  there  is  danger  that  the  large  and 
wealthy  state  will  be  greedy  of  too  much  power. 
So  it  happened  in  the  Dutch  League  of  Seven 
States,  where  the  resources  and  population  of 
Holland  were  nearly  equal  to  those  of  the  other  six 
states  combined.  Hence  there  was  constant  dan- 
ger from  the  ambition  and  power  of  one  member  of 
the  confederacy  that  paid  forty-eight  per  cent  of  all 
the  taxes. 

The  New  England  Confederacy  was  formed  in 
1643,  but  in  practice  the  same  evils  were  encoun- 
tered as  in  the  Netherlands.  Massachusetts  was  too 
large,  and  wanted  things  too  much  her  own  way. 
For  about  twenty  years  only  did  the  Union  have 
any  real  life,  and  it  came  to  an  end  when  Charles  II. 
sent  over  Andros  as  governor,  who  trampled  upon 
all  law  and  carried  out  his  master's  wishes  to  per- 
fection. 

We  shall  see  how,  later,  in   1690,  after  the  mas- 


GERMANIC   OR  LATIN  CIVILIZATION  IN  AMERICA?    211 

sacre  of  Schenectady,  under  Jacob  Leisler,  and  in 
1740,  at  Albany,  under  Benjamin  Franklin,  further 
attempts  at  a  union  of  colonies  for  mutual  safety 
were  made. 

In  1647  Peter  Stuyvesant  was  sent  out  as  gov- 
ernor of  New  Netherland.  A  man  of  great  energy, 
he  made  one  of  the  best  of  Dutch  governors.  He 
was  then  forty-five  years  old  and  in  the  prime  of 
life.  He  had  served  in  the  West  Indies,  where  in 
the  attack  upon  the  Spanish  island  of  St.  Martin 
he  lost  a  leg.  Patent  spring  limbs  being  then  un- 
known, he  wore  a  wooden  substitute,  and  this  being 
handsomely  ornamented  with  studs  of  silver,  he  was 
often  called  "Old  Silver  Nails,"  or  "Old  Silver 
Leg."  He  had  been  living  three  years  in  Holland 
before  he  was  appointed  director-general  of  New 
Netherland. 

Soon  after  his  arrival,  he  sent  for  Arendt  Van 
Curler  and  took  good  counsel  from  him,  and  thus 
from  the  first  treated  the  Indians  with  kindness  and 
justice.  Absolutely  honest,  not  knowing  what  fear 
was,  and  intent  on  doing  justice  to  all,  he  brought 
order  into  the  colony.  He  was  thoroughly  faithful 
to  his  employers,  conscientious  in  everything,  and 
devoutly  religious.  He  had  a  hot  temper  and  strong 
will. 

Stuyvesant's  other  virtues  were  not  of  the  typical 
Dutch  sort.  He  ruled  in  an  aristocratic  spirit. 


212       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

Without  much  faith  in  popular  government,  he 
sided  with  the  political  ideas  which  in  Holland 
have  always  been  opposed  to  democracy.  The 
Dutch  farmers  and  traders  in  New  Netherland  had 
been  used  to  much  more  freedom  in  their  native 
country  than  either  the  patroons  or  the  governors 
wished  to  allow.  Stuyvesant  tried  hard  to  check 
the  growing  liberal  spirit,  but  the  popular  demand 
asserted  itself.  A  council  of  nine  men  was  elected 
to  assist  the  governor  and  to  say  how  taxes  should 
be  raised  and  the  money  disbursed.  Thereafter 
popular  liberty  steadily  broadened  in  New  Nether- 
land.  In  this  the  Dutch  were  reasserting  ancient 
rights  ;  for  their  doctrine  of  "  no  taxation  without 
consent "  is  as  old  as  the  middle  ao;es.  It  was  the 

O 

rock  on  which  Philip  II.  stumbled,  and  which,  fall- 
ing on  Spain,  nearly  ground  that  proud  Power  to 
powder. 

While  his  countrymen  were  broadening  and  deep- 
ening in  religious  liberty,  Old  Silver  Nails  held  to 
the  sectarian  bigotry  which  had  brought  Barneveldt 
to  the  block.  He  was  severe  upon  the  Quakers, 
though  he  was  not  so  horribly  cruel  as  the  Massa- 
chusetts Puritans.  He  was  angry  because  the 
Anabaptists  nourished.  He  fined  the  Lutheran 
churchmen  and  their  supporters.  Yet  all  this  was 
so  totally  different  from  the  spirit  of  brave  little 
Holland,  that,  by  the  very  next  ship  after  that  which 


GERMANIC   OR  LA  TIN  CIVILIZA  TION  IN  AMERICA  ?    213 

brought  the  news  of  a  Dutchman's  shameful  con- 
duct in  imitating  the  kings  and  church  lords  of 
Europe,  Stuyvesant  was  severely  rebuked.  He  was 
given  to  understand  that  no  man  was  to  be  perse- 
cuted for  his  faith,  but  that  religious  liberty  must 
be  the  rule  in  New  Netherland,  as  well  as  in  the 
old  country.  From  that  time  forth,  there  was  no 
trouble  in  the  colony  to  any  law-abiding  citizen, 
whatever  his  religious  opinions  might  be. 

In  other  respects,  Stuyvesant  made  a  capital 
governor.  Although  in  1656  New  Amsterdam  had 
only  a  thousand  inhabitants,  it  was  as  cosmopolitan 
as  Greater  New  York  now  is.  Though  most  of  the 
people  were  Dutch,  there  were  many  Walloons  and 
Huguenots,  insular  British  folk  of  four  sorts,  and 
Continental  Europeans  of  many  kinds,  —  a  new 
Europe  in  miniature.  The  laws  had  to  be  published 
in  three  languages,  and  there  were  from  fourteen  to 
twenty  tongues  spoken  on  Broadway,  for  the  ships 
of  many  nations  came  into  the  harbor  for  trade. 
None  better  than  the  Dutch  understood  the  advan- 
tages of  this  great  gateway  from  the  ocean  into  the 
continent.  Much  firmness  and  wisdom  were  neces- 
sary to  govern  such  a  variety  of  people,  especially 
in  a  seaport  where  more  strong  drink  was  sold  than 
was  necessary  for  comfort. 

Stuyvesant  also  guarded  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Puritans  in  Connecticut  upon  the 


214       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

limits  of  New  Netherland,  being  most  anxious,  also, 
as  a  Christian  magistrate,  to  keep  the  peace  among 
white  men  in  the  presence  of  the  Indians.  Being 
peremptorily  ordered  to  dispossess  the  Swedes  on 
the  Delaware,  he  captured  the  fort  which  the  Swed- 
ish Governor  Rising  had  taken  in  1654,  and  took 
possession  of  the  entire  colony  of  New  Sweden. 

Ten  years  later,  it  was  the  turn  of  the  biters  to 
be  bitten ;  for  then  the  Dutch  were  themselves 
turned  out  by  the  British.  By  1664  the  English 
people  in  the  Eastern  colonies  and  in  Virginia,  who 
looked  upon  the  Netherlanders  as  intruders,  wanted 
to  get  them  out  and  have  English  people  in  their 
place,  while  the  British  king  was  covetous  of  the 
rich  land  and  splendid  harbor  which  the  Dutch  had 
opened  to  civilization. 

The  Duke  of  York,  whom  history  can  call  little 
less  than  a  buccaneer,  who  had  already  needlessly 
ravaged  Portuguese  settlements  in  Africa,  was  very 
anxious  to  distinguish  himself  by  capturing  New 
Netherland.  Charles  II.  determined  to  seize  the 
country ;  but  as  he  gave  assurances  to  the  Dutch 
government  that  he  intended  no  such  thing,  and 
told  many  royal  lies,  the  West  India  Company  was 
lulled  into  security.  As  one  of  the  great  motives 
in  founding  the  colony  had  been  to  weaken  Spain, 
and  as  the  Dutch  had,  as  far  back  as  1648,  humbled 
their  great  enemy  and  won  their  complete  indepen- 


GERMANIC   OR   LATIN  CIVILIZATION  IN  AMERICA?    21$ 

dence  from  the  Spanish  king,  they  paid  little  atten- 
tion to  their  American  province.  The  defences 
were  neglected.  The  fort  fell  into  disrepair.  There 
was  a  garrison  of  only  sixteen  soldiers  in  the  bas- 
tions, and  there  was  not  a  single  man-of-war  in  the 
harbor.  Knowing  the  weakness  and  unguarded 
condition  of  Manhattan  Island,  the  Stuart  king  at 
once  improved  his  opportunity.  Although  it  was 
a  time  of  profound  peace,  the  British  government, 
in  August,  1664,  sent  Colonel  Nichols,  with  a  fleet 
of  ships  and  about  a  thousand  soldiers,  who  de- 
manded instant  surrender. 

The  brave  Stuyvesant  showed  fight  and  refused 
at  first  to  yield ;  but  finding  few  to  second  him,  he 
appointed  Domine  Megapolensis  and  other  citizens 
to  treat  with  the  British  commander  to  secure  pro- 
tection of  life  and  liberty.  Excellent  terms  were 
made,  by  which  freedom  of  conscience,  trade,  and 
representative  government  were  guaranteed.  The 
province  was  named  New  York,  and  the  city  like- 
wise. Nichols  at  once  sent  for  Arendt  Van  Curler 
to  gain  over  the  Iroquois  Indians  and  to  secure  the 
frontiers,  and  took  the  good  advice  of  this  leader 
and  statesman. 

Stuyvesant  visited  Holland  to  give  account  to 
the  company  of  his  stewardship,  but  came  back  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  on  his  farm,  or 
"  bowery,"  in  that  part  of  the  city  which  still  retains 


2l6       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

its  name.  At  the  time  of  the  surrender,  there  were 
probably  not  over  ten  thousand  white  people  in  the 
whole  region  where  now  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware  have  now  a  population 
of  fifteen  millions.  It  is  quite  possible  that  one- 
half  of  the  Netherlanders  returned  home,  not  liking 
English  ways  of  government;  so  that  in  all  New 
York  there  were  probably  not  more  than  five  thou- 
sand Netherlanders  remaining.  From  these  have 
sprung  that  excellent  stock  which  has  been  so 
powerful  in  making  New  York  the  Empire  State, 
and  in  helping  to  settle  the  West.  Their  de- 
scendants, among  whom  are  so  many  heroes, 
legislators,  authors,  inventors,  and  men  eminent  in 
all  the  departments  of  life,  have  spread  all  over 
the  Union. 

The  English  governor,  Colonel  Nichols,  was  a 
man  of  energy  and  good  sense.  After  him  came 
Francis  Lovelace,  who  was  not  a  particularly  inter- 
esting character.  When,  in  1674,  war  broke  out 
again  between  the  Dutch  and  English,  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  seas,  Admiral  Cornelius  Evertse,  fly- 
ing the  flag  of  the  republic,  came  into  the  harbor 
of  New  York  and  recaptured  the  city  and  province. 
Then,  to  the  great  joy  of  many  inhabitants,  followed 
a  year  of  Dutch  rule ;  but  the  English  Parliament 
compelled  King  Charles  to  cease  war  with  Holland 
and  to  make  peace. 


GERMANIC   OR  LATIN  CIVILIZATION  IN  AMERICA?    21 7 

The  region  of  New  Netherland  again  came  under 
English  rule,  and  Sir  Edwin  Andros,  a  man  of 
excellent  private  character,  but  of  abominable  politi- 
cal principles,  was  sent  over  to  govern  the  whole 
region  of  country  between  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the 
Penobscot  River.  Andros  was  one  of  those  narrow- 
minded,  hard-headed  persons  who  can  see  nothing 
but  the  will  of  their  master;  who  can  be  more 
despotic  than  the  despot  himself,  and  whose  private 
virtues  seem  all  the  more  strange  in  contrast  with 
their  abominable  public  characters. 

The  English  people  had  long  been  outraged  in 
their  rights  and  liberties  by  their  treasonable  ser- 
vants, the  Stuart  kings.  They  had  passed  through 
a  civil  war  and  were  suffering  from  the  folly  of  the 
reaction  brought  about  by  the  aristocracy  and 
nobles.  They  were  now  getting  ready  to  drive 
out  one  king,  as  they  had  already  beheaded  another. 
Furthermore,  they  were  especially  incensed  at  the 
buccaneer  who  had  become  their  sovereign,  and 
was  now  the  ally  and  tool  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  had 
driven  the  Huguenots  out  of  France. 

Andros  seemed  to  have  no  idea  but  to  out-Stuart 
the  Stuarts.  In  New  York  he  tried  hard  to  set  up 
the  state  religion  of  England,  and  to  exploit  the 
notions  of  his  master,  James  II.,  in  defiance  of  law; 
but  he  soon  found  that  the  cosmopolitan  popula- 
tion of  New  York --Dutch,  Scottish,  Irish,  Eng- 


2l8      THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

lish,  Welsh,  German,  and  French  —  were  united 
against  him,  as  against  a  common  enemy.  These 
law-abiding  people  began  to  organize  that  long 
course  of  constitutional  resistance  to  the  pretensions 
and  usurpations  of  Andros  and  the  other  English 
governors,  —  who  were  mostly  intemperate,  im- 
moral, and  haters  of  popular  liberty,  besides  being 
land  speculators  of  a  disreputable  sort.  The  good 
people  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  churches,  by  their 
tenacity  to  their  religious  convictions,  by  their  up- 
holding of  popular  education,  by  their  refusing  in 
the  Assembly  to  vote  for  the  governor's  measures, 
were  especially  active  in  saving  freedom  in  that 
typical  American  colony  which  was  destined  to 
become  the  Empire  State. 

Andros,  in  pursuance  of  the  royal  ideas  which 
James  Stuart  was  exploiting  in  England,  continued 
the  systematic  extinction  of  charters  and  local  gov- 
ernment. He  punished  the  little  town  of  Schenec- 
tady,  by  declaring  a  blockade  and  the  stopping  of 
its  trade  for  nearly  three  months.  His  attempt  to 
crush  out  the  instincts  of  the  liberty-loving  colo- 
nists, though  utterly  vain,  seemed  to  the  Hugue- 
nots in  New  York  wonderfully  like  the  course  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  to  the  Netherlander  like  that  of 
Philip  II. 

When  James  II.  came  to  the  throne,  he  deter- 
mined to  take  away  the  charters  of  Connecticut  and 


GERMANIC   OR  LATIN  CIVILIZATION  IN  AMERICA?    2\<) 

Rhode  Island,  as  his  brother  Charles  II.  had  already 
done  in  the  case  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  unite  all 
New  England  in  one  royal  province.  For  violating 
the  Navigation  Laws,  for  welcoming  the  two  judges 
who  are  called  by  English  historians  "  regicides," 
for  opposition  to  England's  political  church,  for 
being  too  republican,  Massachusetts  was  made  a 
province  of  the  crown  like  New  York,  and  remained 
so  until  the  Revolutionary  War,  Andros  being  the 
first  royal  governor. 

In  order  to  bring  the  people  of  Connecticut 
directly  under  his  control,  Governor  Andros,  backed 
by  a  body  of  soldiers,  went  to  Hartford  to  get  the 
charter.  The  people  resolved  they  would  not  give 
this  up.  Governor  Andros  discussed  the  matter 
with  the  legislature  until  it  was  dark.  Then,  as 
tradition  avers,  the  charter  was  brought  in  and 
placed  on  the  table.  Suddenly  the  candles  were 
blown  out.  When  they  were  lighted  again,  no 
charter  was  seen.  Some  one,  according  to  the 
story,  had  seized  the  document  and  hidden  it  in  a 
hollow  of  an  oak  tree  near  by,  which  was  ever  after- 
wards known  as  "  Charter  Oak  "  and  stood  till  1856. 
Nevertheless,  Andros  declared  that  charter  govern- 
ment in  Connecticut  was  null  and  void.  A  marble 
tablet  stands  where  the  old  oak  tree  did,  and  a  piece 
of  one  of  its  boughs,  in  the  form  of  a  bell-yoke,  is 
now  in  Independence  Hall  in  Philadelphia. 


22O      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Everything  looked  dark  for  freedom,  from  the 
Delaware  to  the  Kennebec,  and  the  descendants  of 
men  who  had  known  liberty  in  Great  Britain  and 
the  Netherlands  were  discouraged,  when  suddenly 
there  came  a  gleam  of  light  from  Holland.  Will- 
iam III.,  great-grandson  of  William  the  Silent,  the 
pioneer  of  constitutional  and  religious  freedom,  had 
married  into  the  Stuart  family  of  England.  His 
wife  was  the  daughter  of  King  James  II.  Having 
been  invited  by  the  leading  men  of  England  to  come 
over  with  his  army  and  take  the  throne  in  place  of 
the  ruler  who  had  betrayed  the  nation,  William  set 
sail  with  his  Dutch  fleet  and  regiments.  Of  his 
fine  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men,  probably  half 
were  Huguenots.  Landing  at  Torbay,  he  marched 
to  London.  Soon  afterward  his  wife  was  made  the 
Queen  and  he  the  King  of  England.  From  this 
time  forth,  to  Christians  outside  the  political  church, 
life  was  less  of  a  burden,  though  the  free  church- 
men had  to  study  in  Holland  or  Scotland,  for  Eng- 
lish universities  were  still  shut  to  nonconformists. 

Parliament  issued  that  great  state  paper  which 
marks  the  revolution  of  1688  as  the  beginning  of 
modern  parliamentary  government,  whereby  almost 
all  power  is  centred  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  Great  Britain  has  become  a  republic,  though 
still  retaining  the  form  of  a  monarchy.  The  Dec- 
laration of  Rights,  drawn  up  chiefly  by  Lord 


GERMANIC   OR  LATIN  CIVILIZATION  IN  AMERICA?    221 

Somers,  is  modelled  on  the  Dutch  Declaration  of 
Independence  of  1581.  Since  1688,  English  free 
churchmen  have  been  able  by  persistent  struggle  to 
win  their  rights.  The  Puritan  revolution  in  which 
Charles  Stuart  was  executed  as  malefactor  was 
justified,  and  not  a  few  of  the  ideas  and  the  hopes 
of  Cromwell  were  carried  out.  Since  1688,  also, 
many  of  the  modern  reforms,  which  had  long  existed 
in  Holland,  had  become  a  part  of  English  law  and 
custom. 

When  William  III.  crossed  over  to  Ireland  also, 
many  hundreds  of  his  Dutch  and  Huguenot  soldiers 
settled  down  in  Ulster.  They,  with  civilians  from 
Holland,  introduced  new  industries  and  manufact- 
ures, the  raising  of  flax,  the  making  of  fine  textiles, 
and  of  that  renowned  Irish  linen  which  soon  brought 
wealth  to  the  Emerald  Isle.  Ulster  "  County"  became 
a  garden  of  intelligence  and  thrift,  and  a  school  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  noblest  virtues  that  adorn  hu- 
manity. Here  were  bred  the  ancestors  of  possibly 
ten  million  Americans  and  hundreds  of  men  and 
women  who  have  been  leaders  in  American  history. 

James  II.  never  regained  office  in  England  and 
his  grandson  Charles  Edward,  known  in  England 
as  "The  Young  Pretender"  and  in  Scotland  as 
"  Bonny  Prince  Charlie,"  attempted,  in  1744,  with  a 
large  fleet  and  French  force  to  invade  England,  but 
a  storm  destroyed  both  his  ships  and  his  plan  .  T  i 


222       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

the  next  year  he  landed  in  Scotland.  The  High- 
landers rose  in  his  favor  and  won  several  victories 
over  the  royal  troops ;  but  at  the  battle  of  Culloden, 
April  1 6,  1746,  his  army  was  destroyed  and  with 
it  the  last  hope  of  the  Stuarts,  whose  line  became 
extinct  in  1807.  This  battle  broke  up  Gaelic  feudal- 
ism and  the  clan  system  in  Scotland.  The  High- 
landers were  enlisted  as  soldiers  in  the  British  army, 
or  scattered  all  over  the  world,  large  numbers  com- 
ing to  America.  From  this  time  forth,  the  bagpipe 
was  heard  and  the  gay  Gaelic  dress  of  tartan  plaid 
seen  in  other  lands.  Armed  with  virtues  nourished 
beside  the  loch,  under  the  granite  ben  and  in  the 
glens,  on  moor  and  turf,  and  heather  and  gorse,  the 
Scotsman  went  forth  to  do  most  nobly  the  world's 
work,  and  to  help  build  the  greatest  of  republics. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

GOVERNOR   LEISLER,  THE    HUGUENOTS,  AND   THE   ROYAL 

WARS. 

WHEN  the  people  of  the  colonies  heard  of  the 
revolution  in  England,  they  at  once  made 
movements  to  regain  law  and  freedom.  In  New 
York,  on  May  31,  1689,  Jacob  Leisler,  a  German 
or  Huguenot  commissioner  of  the  Court  of  Admi- 
ralty, took  the  fort  on  Manhattan  Island,  declared 
for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  planted  six  can- 
non within  the  fort,  from  which  the  place  was  ever 
afterwards  called  "  The  Battery."  A  committee  of 
safety  was  formed  which  invested  Leisler  with  the 
powers  of  a  governor.  When,  however,  a  despatch 
arrived  from  the  authorities  of  Great  Britain,  directed 
"  to  such  person  as,  for  the  time  being,  takes  care 
for  preserving  the  peace,  and  administering  the  laws 
in  his  majesty's  province  in  New  York,"  Leisler, 
considering  himself  governor,  dissolved  the  com- 
mittee of  safety,  and  organized  the  government 
throughout  the  whole  province.  There  was  divi- 
sion among  the  New  Yorkers.  The  minority, 
being  mostly  the  English  aristocracy,  were  against 

223 


224       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Leisler,  but  the  people  in  great  majority  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  him.  It  was  the  old  conflict  between  the 
few  and  the  many,  with  "  all  the  people  "  sure  in  the 
end  to  win. 

Louis  XIV.  of  France  aided,  with  his  fleet  and 
army,  the  refugee  and  pretender  James  Stuart,  to  in- 
vade Great  Britain.  This  made  the  Dutch  and  Brit- 
ish once  more  comrades  in  arms,  in  a  war  against  the 
enemies  of  law  and  liberty.  The  Edict  of  Nantes, 
issued  by  Henry  IV.  of  France,  in  1559,  which 
granted  religious  toleration,  was  revoked  by  Louis 
XIV.  in  1685,  and  the  French  Christians  of  the  Re- 
formed church  were  hunted  out  of  France,  grandly 
to  the  gain  of  America.  Massachusetts,  the  Caro- 
linas,  and  New  York  profited  most  by  getting  these 
people  of  high  character,  culture,  graces,  and  abili- 
ties. To  the  French  refugees  coming  to  New  York, 
Governor  Leisler  gave  a  welcome  and  made  provi- 
sion for  them  by  purchasing  land  at  New  Rochelle. 
Here,  in  New  York  city,  at  New  Paltz,  and  other 
places,  these  excellent  people  helped  build  up  the 
noble  commonwealth  of  New  York. 

The  echoes  of  the  strife  in  Europe  were  quickly 
heard  in  American  forests.  Soon  began  the  first 
of  several  wars,  royal  rather  than  popular,  which 
were  destined  to  make  New  York  the  tramping  and 
battle  ground  of  armies  and  the  region  whence 
parties  of  Canadian  French  and  savages  should 


LEISLER,   HUGUENOTS,  AND  ROYAL    WARS.          22$ 

march  to  ravage  the  frontier  settlements.  New 
England's  battles  were  to  be  fought  mostly  by  sea. 

Jacob  Leisler  was  probably  among  the  very  first 
of  far-sighted  men  to  see  the  necessity  of  union 
against  the  French,  who  represented  the  Latin  idea 
of  civilization,  while  the  Dutch  and  British  repre- 
sented the  Germanic  or  modern  idea  of  self-govern- 
ment. To  him,  the  importance  of  a  federation  of 
all  the  colonies  seemed  vital.  After  plainly  trying 
to  get  other  governors  to  unite  with  him,  Leisler, 
early  in  1690,  sent  a  small  fleet  against  Quebec. 
From  the  very  first  New  York  was  infused  with 
that  sentiment  for  union  which  she  has  shown  in  all 
political  disturbances  and  wars  throughout  all  her 
history.  Very  appropriately,  on  her  soil,  was  held 
the  first  Congress  to  propose  an  elaborate  plan  of 
union. 

As  soon  as  news  of  the  English  revolution  reached 
Boston,  where  Andros  lived,  the  people  put  their 
tyrant  in  prison  and  restored  their  self-government, 
which  they  maintained  until  a  royal  governor  was 
sent  over  by  the  new  king.  Then,  of  Maine,  New 
Hampshire,  and  Massachusetts,  including  Plymouth 
Colony,  was  made  one  royal  province. 

What  we  call  "  King  William's  War,"  the  be- 
ginning of  a  conquest  which  was  to  rage  for  over 
seventy  years,  broke  out  in  1689.  It  was  only  the 
cis-Atlantic  part  of  a  long  struggle  between  Great 


226      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Britain  and  FYance  to  settle  the  ownership  of  India 
and  North  America.  In  Europe  the  bloody  theatre 
of  the  righting  which  was  to  last,  with  some  intervals, 
until  the  battle  of  Waterloo  was  chiefly  in  the  southern 
Netherlands,  though  at  first  in  the  Rhine  Palatinate. 
On  our  continent  the  contest  was  to  decide  the 
question  whether  the  colonists  were  to  grow  up  under 
a  Latin  or  a  Germanic  ideal  of  civilization.  Usually 
represented  as  four  distinct  wars,  the  American 
phase  of  this  prolonged  campaign  was  in  reality  but 
one  war,  which  was  to  end  at  the  fall  of  Quebec. 

Until  1763  the  French  determination  to  get  hold 
of  America  was  as  strenuous  and  persistent  as  the 
English.  Frontenac,  a  relative  of  Madame  Mainte- 
non,  the  mistress  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  who  had  seen 
service  in  the  Dutch  and  Italian  wars,  had  been  ap- 
pointed governor-general  of  Canada  in  1672.  He 
built  Fort  Frontenac  where  Kingston,  Ontario,  now 
stands.  He  assisted  the  exploring  expeditions  of 
La  Salle,  Marquette,  and  Joliet  in  the  Mississippi 
valley.  When,  in  1682,  the  governor  was  recalled, 
the  colony  in  Canada  almost  fell  into  ruins.  In 
1689  he  was  sent  back  again. 

Almost  at  once  the  whole  continent  seemed  to 
feel  the  magic  of  Frontenac's  iron  hand.  Within  a 
few7  months,  his  sailors  had  destroyed  the  English 
fleet  in  Hudson's  Bay  and  invaded  Newfoundland. 
His  raiding  parties  ravaged  the  Iroquois  territory 


LEISLER,  HUGUENOTS,  AND  ROYAL   WARS.         22/ 

and  captured  or  burned  Pemaquid,  Casco,  Salmon 
Falls,  and  Haverhill  in  New  England  and  Sche- 
nectady  in  New  York.  Frontenac's  courage  and 
activity  were  marvellous.  For  several  years  it  looked 
as  if  the  fallen  fortunes  of  France  in  America  were 
to  be  restored.  His  method  of  terrorizing  the 
whole  colonial  frontier,  from  Maine  to  New  Jersey, 
was  to  send  out  small  bands  of  French  and  Indians 
to  surprise  and  shoot  down  the  settlers  in  the  field 
and  burn  their  villages. 

In  1690  Haverhill  was  the  frontier  town  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. The  Indians  attacked  the  town  and 
carried  off  as  captives  two  women  and  a  boy.  On 
the  way  to  Canada,  while  the  savages  were  asleep, 
Mrs.  Hannah  Dustin  succeeded  in  killing  her  cap- 
tors with  their  own  tomahawks  and  returned  to  the 
settlement  with  ten  scalps.  On  the  9th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1690,  a  party  of  over  two  hundred  French  and 
Indians  surprised  Schenectady,  New  York,  at  mid- 
night. They  slaughtered  the  Connecticut  soldiers 
in  the  fort  and  the  Dutch  people  in  the  village, 
sixty  in  all,  taking  nearly  as  many  prisoners.  They 
then  burned  the  houses  and  escaped  to  Canada.  In 
our  day  many  a  "  mossy  marble "  and  roadside 
memorial  tells  of  the  colonial  pioneers  of  the  border, 
slain  at  their  ploughs  or  in  the  field  by  invisible 
gunners,  killed  in  their  homes  by  French  or  red 
men,  or  "  captivated  by  the  Indian  salvages." 


228       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

A  hard-drinking  Englishman,  named  Sloughter, 
was  appointed  the  royal  governor  of  New  York. 
On  his  arrival,  Leisler  refused  to  surrender  the  fort 
and  government,  until  convinced  that  Sloughter 
was  the  regularly  appointed  agent  of  the  king. 
Those  who  hated  Leisler  seized  this  opportunity 
of  having  him  and  Milborne,  his  son,  imprisoned. 
After  a  short  and  absurd  trial,  they  were  con- 
demned, and  the  governor,  when  drunk,  signed  an 
order  of  execution.  On  May  16,  1691,  Leisler 
and  Milborne  were  hanged  on  the  spot  east  of  the 
Park  in  New  York  city,  where  stands  the  Tribune 
building,  opposite  which  are  the  statues  of  Benja- 
min Franklin  and  Nathan  Hale  and  near  which 
the  figure  of  Leisler  may  yet  come  to  resurrec- 
tion in  bronze.  The  outrageous  act  of  the  king's 
agent  was  disapproved.  In  1695,  by  an  act  of 
Parliament,  Leisler's  name  was  honored,  indemnity 
was  paid  to  his  heirs,  and  the  remains  of  these 
victims  of  judicial  murder  were  honorably  buried 
within  the  edifice  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church. 
No  unprejudiced  historian  can  but  honor  Leisler, 
the  lover  of  union,  and  the  champion  of  the  people's 
rights. 

During  King  William's  War,  the  colonists  of 
Massachusetts  sent  an  expedition,  which  captured 
Port  Royal  and  Nova  Scotia,  then  called  Acadia. 
They  also  made  an  attack  on  Quebec,  which,  how- 


LEISLER,   HUGUENOTS,   AND  ROYAL    WARS. 

ever,  was  brilliantly  repulsed  under  Frontenac. 
Louis  XIV.  was  so  much  pleased  over  this  event, 
that  he  had  a  medal  struck  in  honor  of  the  French 
victory.  Peace  was  finally  made  in  1697,  by  the 
envoys  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Spain,  Germany, 
and  the  United  Netherlands,  who  met  in  the  sum- 
mer palace  of  the  Dutch  stadholder  at  the  little 
village  of  Ryswick  near  The  Hague.  A  grand 
partition  of  the  continent  of  America  among  three 
Powers  was  temporarily  agreed  upon. 

The  British  people  were  not  well  pleased  with 
the  Peace  of  Ryswick.  They  grumbled  and  de- 
clared that  the  only  benefit  which  they  had  re- 
ceived, for  all  their  expenditure  of  blood  and  money 
on  the  European  continent,  was  the  acknowledg- 
ment by  the  French  of  William  III.  as  King  of 
England.  Yet  the  British  government  had  spent 
very  little  treasure,  and  sent  but  few  men  to 
America,  during  King  William's  War,  the  colonies 
having  done  almost  all  the  fighting. 

Such  a  peace  could  not  be  permanent.  Five 
years  later,  the  strife  broke  out  afresh.  This  time 
it  was  called  in  America  "  Queen  Anne's  War," 
after  Queen  Anne  of  England.  It  lasted  from 
1702  to  1713.  Deerfield,  in  Massachusetts,  was  at- 
tacked by  red  and  white  Canadians.  The  sun 
rose  on  a  thriving  village  one  morning  and  on 
the  next  lighted  up  a  level  waste  of  ashes.  The 


230      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Eastern  colonies  recaptured  Port  Royal  and  named 
it  Annapolis,  in  honor  of  the  queen.  In  the 
attempt,  in  1711,  to  take  Quebec,  the  expedition 
under  Sir  Harrenden  Walker  encountered  stormy 
weather  and  suffered  from  the  ignorance  of  the 

O 

pilots.  The  ships  were  wrecked,  and  over  a  thou- 
sand lives  were  lost,  the  whole  affair  ending  in 
disaster. 

In  the  South  the  people  of  the  Carolinas  were 
attacked  by  the  Tuscarora  Indians,  who  had  evi- 
dently been  urged  on  by  the  Spaniards.  In  one 
night,  near  Roanoke,  they  massacred  a  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  white  settlers  and  seemed  inclined 
to  drive  the  pale  faces  entirely  off  the  soil.  Gov- 
ernor Craven  of  South  Carolina  at  once  appointed 
Colonel  John  Barnwell,  an  Irishman,  to  take  ven- 
geance on  the  savages.  Gathering  a  body  of  six 
hundred  white  and  several  hundred  allies,  all  of 
them  well  used  to  woodcraft,  and  able  to  subsist 
in  the  forest  without  provision  trains,  "  Tuscarora 
John  "  drove  the  hostile  warriors  before  him.  He 
compelled  them  to  fight  at  a  disadvantage  with 
men  who  could  stand  up  behind  trees  and  use 
all  the  red  men's  tricks  against  themselves.  Then 
besieging  them  in  their  fortified  castle,  Barnwell 
compelled  the  braves  of  this  once  mighty  tribe  to 
surrender.  After  one  thousand  of  their  fighting 
men  had  been  killed,  the  shattered  remnant  of 


LEISLER,   HUGUENOTS,   AND  ROYAL    WARS.         2$l 

the  Tuscarora  tribe  was  compelled  to  leave  the 
old  hunting  grounds  and  to  come  north  into  New 
York.  In  1713  they  settled  in  the  region  of 
Cayuga  Lake,  joining  the  confederacy  of  the  five 
Iroquois  tribes,  which  were  hereafterwards  known 
as  the  Six  Nations. 

No  other  events  of  importance  occurred  during 
this  war,  which  was  concluded  in  1713,  after  heavy 
fighting  in  the  Netherlands,  in  which  the  Duke 
of  Maryborough  made  his  great  fame.  By  the 
Treaty  of  Utrecht  Acadia  now  became  a  part  of 
Great  Britain  and  was  named  Nova  Scotia. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

THE    MOHAWK    VALLEY    AND    THE    PALATINE    GERMANS. 

DURING  the  interval  of  peace  from  1713  to 
1744,  there  was  a  westward  movement  of  the 
colonists  from  the  older  coast  settlements.  Pioneers 
from  eastern  and  central  Massachusetts  occupied 
the  region  of  the  Berkshire  Hills.  In  Pennsylvania 
the  Palatine  Germans  settled  the  region  between  the 
Delaware  and  Lehigh  and  the  Susquehanna.  New 
York  west  of  Schenectady  was  opened  to  settlement. 
In  the  Mohawk  valley,  Hendrich  Frey  from  Zurich, 
Switzerland,  had  made  his  home  west  of  the  Pala- 
tine Bridge  before  1700.  After  1710,  thousands  of 
Germans  from  the  Rhine  Palatinate,  who  had  left 
their  fields  and  vineyards,  gladly  entered  New  York 
as  the  new  land  of  promise  on  the  Livingston 
Manor,  and,  later,  by  the  Schoharie  and  Mohawk, 
becoming  good  Americans. 

These  Germans  were  at  first  very  poor,  but 
whether  of  the  Lutheran  or  of  the  Reformed 
churches  they  were  devout  God-fearing  people  of 
high  principle.  They  were  especially  tenacious  of 
personal  liberty,  just  as  their  Teutonic  forefathers 

232 


THE  MOHAWK    VALLEY  AND  PALATINE   GERMANS.     233 

were.  Those  who  tried  to  play  the  Roman  Csesar 
over  them  soon  found  out  their  folly  to  their  own 
cost.  All  know  how  their  tenacity  and  courage 
were  splendidly  shown  at  the  battle  of  Oriskany, 
the  most  bloody  and  severely  contested,  and  by 
some  thought  to  be  the  decisive  battle  of  the  Revo- 
lution. Not  all  Americans,  however,  are  familiar 
with  the  fact  that  through  the  Palatine  German, 
Zenger,  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  America  was 
first  won. 

The  fur  trade  received  a  tremendous  stimulus, 
when,  in  1722,  the  British  flag  was  unfurled  by 
Governor  William  Burnett  at  Oswego,  which  was 
the  first  English  outpost  on  Lake  Ontario.  Burnett 
encouraged  bold  young  men  from  Albany  and  the  val- 
ley settlements  to  penetrate  to  Niagara  and  beyond. 
These  sturdy  traders  were  ever  alert,  whether  on 
water  or  land.  They  could  either  paddle  their 
canoes  or  carry  them  from  stream  to  stream.  Their 
outfit  of  manufactured  articles  was  exchanged  for 
cargoes  of  peltry. 

In  1727  a  regular  fort  was  built  at  Oswego,  and 
then  began  the  development  of  the  American  com- 
mercial traveller,  the  prototype  of  the  smart,  well- 
dressed,  and  brainy  "drummer"  of  to-day.  Instead 
of  riding  with  thousand-mile  tickets  in  express  trains 
and  palatial  sleeping-cars,  having  sample  bags  and 
trunks,  and  stopping  in  comfortable  hotels  in  which 


234       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

to  show  their  wares,  these  colonial  pioneers  of  trade, 
full  of  courage,  address,  and  rich  in  resources,  used 
the  birch-bark  canoe  and  the  pack-horse.  They 
carried  their  hardware,  dry-goods,  and  ornaments  out, 
and  their  bundles  of  furs  in,  so  that  Albany  became 
the  headquarters  of  that  fur  trade  in  America,  as 
London  and  Amsterdam  were  in  Europe. 

It  was  in  1738,  the  year  that  King  George  III. 
was  born,  that  Sir  William  Johnson  began  his 
activities  as  an  Indian  trader,  and  aided  in  the 
further  development  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  the 
natural  highway  to  the  great  West.  Lieutenant 
John  Butler,  who  had  been  in  the  ill-fated  expedi- 
tion against  Quebec,  had  already  settled  with  his 
two  sons  near  the  later  Johnstown.  In  1740  John- 
son was  appointed  head  of  the  Indian  department. 
The  Butlers  and  Johnson  were  Irishmen,  with  the 
wit  and  abilities  of  their  race.  A  few  years  later 
came  the  Campbells  and  other  Scotsmen,  who  settled 
at  Cherry  Valley.  Johnson  continued  the  work  so 
nobly  begun  by  Arendt  Van  Curler,  the  founder  of 
the  peace  policy  with  the  Iroquois.  He  learned 
their  language,  treated  them  with  justice  and  kind- 
ness, won  their  friendship,  and  made  them  perma- 
nent friends  of  the  British. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  it  was  declared  that  the 
Five  Nations  were  subject  to  the  dominion  of  Great 
Britain.  The  English  interpreted  this  to  mean  that 


THE  MOHAWK    VALLEY  AND  PALATINE    GERMANS.    235 

the  hereditary  territory  of  the  Iroquois  and  all  their 
conquests  westward  to  the  Mississippi  River  were 
British  property.  This  the  French  disputed,  and  at 
once  there  began  a  struggle  for  the  possession  of 
the  Ohio  valley.  The  Virginians  opened  a  road 
over  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  and  petitioned  that 
a  fort  be  built  on  Lake  Erie.  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Virginia  proceeded  to  strengthen  their 
alliance  with  the  Iroquois  by  a  new  covenant  at 
Albany,  the  ancient  place  of  treaties.  For  rum, 
money,  and  presents,  the  red  men  agreed  to  cede  to 
the  English  all  the  lands  west  and  north  of  Lake 
Erie. 

The  French,  having  been  greatly  vexed  because 
their  trade  with  the  Indians  was  intercepted  at 
Oswego,  now  began  to  think  of  fortifying  Niagara. 
They  also  pushed  up  Lake  Champlain,  and  in  1731 
built  Fort  Carillon  at  Crown  Point.  This  act 
alarmed  the  people  of  Massachusetts  even  more 
than  those  of  New  York.  The  French  also  tried 
to  lure  away  the  Iroquois  from  their  allegiance  to 
the  English  ;  but  "  the  covenant  of  Corlaer  "  was  not 
easily  broken,  and  in  1744  the  Indians  came  to 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  and  again  confirmed  their 
former  concessions  in  a  new  treaty.  By  this  time, 
the  French  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  were  irritated 
and  ready  to  take  up  arms  again  in  what  is  known 
as  "  King  George's  War,"  which  lasted  from  1 744  to 
1748. 


236      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

The  greatest  event  of  King  George's  War  was 
the  organization  of  an  expedition  in  Massachusetts 
led  by  Colonel  Pepperell  of  Maine,  who,  with  several 
thousand  farmers  and  fishermen  of  New  England, 
captured  the  great  French  fortress  of  Louisburg  on 
Cape  Breton  Island.  This  they  did  with  the  help 
of  a  British  fleet  under  Sir  Peter  Warren.  This 
victory  gave  tremendous  encouragement  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Eastern  colonies. 

During  these  four  years  the  New  York  people 
were  too  busily  engaged  with  their  governors  in  the 
contest  for  liberty  to  pay  much  attention  to  the  Ind- 
ians, and  so  their  frontier  was  opened  to  the  raids 
of  the  Canadians,  red  and  white.  The  king's  agent, 
Clinton,  wished  to  govern  without  giving  account 
to  the  Assembly  or  to  the  tax-payers,  while  the  peo- 
ple were  determined  to  have  a  free  press,  reason- 
able rights  in  raising  and  disbursing  taxes,  and  a 
voice  in  directing  the  policy  of  the  colony.  They 
felt  that  to  win  their  rights  was  even  more  impor- 
tant than  repelling  savages.  The  descendants  of 
those  who  had  made  the  Dutch  republic,  where  "  no 
taxation  without  consent "  was  the  rule  and  where 
resistance  to  despotic  government  had  been  exalted 
into  a  principle,  were  reinforced  by  all  lovers  of  lib- 
erty in  New  York,  whether  of  Huguenot,  Scottish, 
Irish,  Welsh,  or  German  blood.  Their  steady  love 
of  law  in  opposition  to  lawless  governors,  which 


THE  MOHAWK    VALLEY  AND  PALATINE    GERMANS.    2$? 

continued  down  to  the  Revolution,  showed  that 
New  York  was  leading  all  the  colonies  in  outgrow- 
ing the  colonial  spirit. 

It  was  these  New  Yorkers  who  took  the  first  step 
which  led  to  separation  from  the  trans-Atlantic 
country,  whose  rulers  seemed  to  refuse  to  learn 
how  colonists  ought  to  be  governed,  —  especially 
colonists  who  had  been  bred  in  the  spirit  not  of 
the  monarchy  and  state  church  of  England,  but  of 
republican  Holland.  They  did  indeed  lose,  by 
Indian  attacks,  the  village  of  Saratoga  and  some 
farms  and  colonists,  but  they  won  their  freedom 
against  the  governors  who  so  steadily  misrepre- 
sented the  spirit  of  English  law. 

In  November,  1733,  John  Peter  Zenger,  who  as 
a  boy  had  come  over  in  the  Palatine  emigration 
and  learned  printing  from  Bradford  in  Philadelphia, 
established  The  New  York  Weekly  Journal.  The 
next  year,  having  criticised  the  king's  foolish  repre- 
sentative, Governor  Cosby,  the  latter  had  his  critic 
thrown  into  jail.  James  Alexander  Hamilton,  of 
Philadelphia,  who  had  come  from  Scotland  to  enjoy 
more  freedom  in  William  Penn's  colony,  and  who 
first  purchased  Independence  Square  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  State  House,  in  which  the  Liberty  Bell 
hangs,  came  on  to  New  York.  At  his  own  ex- 
pense he  defended  Zenger  and  secured  his  acquit- 
tal. Thus  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  victories  in 


238      THE  ROMANCE   OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

behalf  of  law  and  freedom,  ever  won  in  this  conti- 
nent, was  secured. 

In  1747  Governor  Clinton,  following  Cosby's 
blunder,  declined  to  account  to  the  Assembly  for  the 
manner  in  which  he  distributed  "  the  money  of  the 
crown,"  i.e.  the  taxes  paid  by  the  people  of  New 
York.  He  forbade  Parker,  the  public  printer,  to 
publish  the  address  and  remonstrance  of  the  Assem- 
bly against  the  executive  encroachments  of  power. 
Parker,  refusing  to  obey  Clinton,  stood  by  the  peo- 
ple and  the  Assembly,  and  printed  the  address  in 
which  they  asserted  their  rights.  On  the  same  day 
on  which,  thirty-six  years  afterwards,  the  British 
and  Hessians  evacuated  Manhattan  Island,  Clinton 
declared  to  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  New 
York  that  their  "grasping  for  power,  with  an  evi- 
dent tendency  to  the  weakening  of  the  dependency 
of  the  province  on  Great  Britain  ...  is  of  most 
dangerous  example  to  your  neighbors."  This  was 
true.  The  action  of  New  York  strongly  influenced 
the  other  colonies  to  uphold  ancient  law  and  freedom. 

Sir  William  Johnson's  activity  along  the  frontier 
greatly  improved  matters  and  prevented  the  French 
and  Indians  from  winning  further  advantages  by 
their  marauding  parties.  In  the  middle  of  July,  a 
conference  was  held  at  Albany,  at  which  Governor 
Shirley  and  the  Massachusetts  commissioners  were 
present. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

THE    SCOTCH-IRISH    EMIGRATION. 

'T'HE  Pilgrims,  the  Huguenots,  and  the  Scotch- 
1  Irish  were  alike  in  one  respect.  They  were 
doubly  colonists.  They  had  had  two  homes  before 
coming  to  their  third  home  in  America. 

Next  to  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  furnished 
the  larger  number  of  colonists  in  America,  before 
the  Revolutionary  War.  Where  people  from  the 
Continent  by  thousands  and  Englishmen  by  myri- 
ads, the  Scottish  and  Irish  came  by  hundreds  of 
thousands.  At  the  Revolution  they  numbered 
nearly  one-half  of  the  population  of  the  thirteen 
colonies.  Without  the  Scotch-Irish,  we  should 
never  have  had  the  country  that  we  have  now. 
Not  only  did  they  equal  in  numbers  all  other  na- 
tionalities from  Europe,  but  in  the  solid  qualities 
that  make  up  manhood  and  citizenship,  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  they  have  had  any  superiors. 

In  the  early  Christian  ages,  both  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  but  more  especially  the  latter  country,  per- 
formed an  important  part  in  Christianizing  Europe. 

239 


240      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Ireland  led  all  Western  countries,  both  as  the  seat  of 
Christian  light  and  knowledge  and  in  missionary 
activities  in  other  countries.  The  greatest  saint  of 
the  island,  the  son  of  a  patrician  and  deacon  named 
Calipurnius,  was  not  Irish  or  Romish,  nor  was  his 
name  Patrick.  Yet  his  was  a  character  whom  all 
Christians  and  good  men  of  every  age  and  creed 
honor.  He  was  a  Catholic  Christian,  long  before 
the  later  disputes  between  Germanic  and  Latin 
Christianity  divided  Christendom,  and  before  the 
names  of  Romanist  and  Protestant  were  heard  of. 
After  his  death,  his  disciples  continued  his  noble 
work. 

The  Keltic  Irish,  who  have  come  so  largely  into 
the  United  States,  and  mostly  in  the  present  cen- 
tury on  account  of  famine  and  troubles  in  their  own 
country,  have  suffered  many  wrongs  and  sorrows  at 
the  hands  of  English  monarchs,  lords,  and  law- 
makers. Before  the  year  1772,  only  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  people  from  the  southern 
countries  of  the  Emerald  Isle  came  to  America. 
The  great  emigration  of  three  hundred  thousand  or 
more  people  from  Ireland  before  1750  was  from 
Ulster  Province,  which  has  a  history  which  may  well 
be  called  one  of  the  romances  of  colonization. 
This  ancient  division  of  Erin  has  in  it  nine  coun- 
ties, in  which  are  many  hills  and  bogs  and  much 
worthless  land,  yet  good  colonists  made  it  one  of 


THE  SCOTCH- IRISH  EMIGRATION.  24! 

the  fairest  and  richest  portions  of  the  earth,  and  this 
within  one  or  two  generations. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  like  other  English  sovereigns, 
had  attempted  to  settle  English  colonies  in  Ireland, 
but  without  much  success.  In  the  time  of  James 
Stuart,  two  noblemen  of  Ulster  rebelled.  The  king 
confiscated  their  estates,  giving  back  the  bogs,  fens, 
and  poor  land  to  the  tenantry,  but  saving  the  best 
soil,  about  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  for  Scottish 
colonists.  These  came  over  by  the  thousands,  so 
that  by  1641  fifty  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
a  million  and  a  half  people  were  Scottish  peo- 
ple, whose  numbers  throughout  the  century  were 
augmented  by  the  persecuted  Covenanters  from 
Scotland.  Before  1700  there  were,  besides  these 
Scotch-Irish  people  and  their  children,  many  thou- 
sands of  English  and  Welsh  people,  as  well  as 
Huguenots  and  Dutchmen  who  had  accompanied 
King  William.  Thus  a  mixture  of  the  best  races 
of  the  world  had  already  begun,  forming  the  new 
man  in  history,  the  Ulsterman,  usually  called 
"  Scotch-Irish,"  though  more  exactly  a  product  of  at 
least  five  of  the  races  which  led  in  civilization.  In- 
troducing improved  agriculture  and  the  industries 
of  Holland  and  France,  they  made  of  the  wilderness 
a  garden  and  of  Ulster  a  hive  of  industry. 

Greed  and  bigotry,  however,  nearly  ruined  this 
wonderful  colony,  and  America  again  profited  by 


242       THE  ROMANCE    OF  A  At  ERIC  AN  COLONIZATION. 

the  foolishness  and  wickedness  of  England's  state- 
church  bigotry  and  the  greed  of  her  avaricious 
people.  The  repressive  legislation  of  Parliament  de- 
stroyed the  Irish  woollen  industry  and  stopped  the 
looms.  This  left  twenty  thousand  intelligent  arti- 
sans out  of  employment.  These,  by  crossing  the 
Atlantic,  began  that  systematic  emigration  which 
brought  from  Ireland  a  third  of  a  million  of  the 
best  sort  of  colonists  to  the  American  shores  to 
find,  like  the  Pilgrims,  a  third  home.  Not  satisfied 
with  industrial  oppression,  the  British  government 
in  1704  passed  a  Test  Act  which,  like  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's laws,  was  equally  severe  against  Calvinists 
and  Catholics.  Most  cruelly  and  brutally  was  this 
Test  Act  enforced  by  Protestant  state  churchmen 
under  Queen  Anne  and  the  Hanoverian  kings. 

From  this  year,  1704,  until  our  Revolution,  all 
classes  of  people  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  who 
refused  to  live  under  such  oppression  and  bigotry, 
crossed  the  ocean  to  America.  Indeed,  it  was  hard 
to  find  ships  enough  to  bring  them  over.  In  Phila- 
delphia ten  or  twelve  thousand  of  these  splendid 
builders  of  a  nation  would  come  in  a  single  year. 
Sometimes  two  or  three  ships  would  arrive  in  a 
day.  The  exodus  was  unusually  great  after  1720. 

Yet  as  if  the  oppressed  Irishman  had  not  suffered 
enough,  the  system  of  eviction,  which  for  over  a 
century  has  cursed  Ireland,  began  only  three 


THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  EMIGRATION.  243 

years  before  the  battle  of  Lexington.  The  abomi- 
nable system  of  raising  the  rents  and  basing  the 
increase  on  the  value  of  improvements  was  put  into 
force  in  1772.  At  least  thirty  thousand  people, 
hating  the  very  name  of  England  and  especially  of 
English  landlords,  left  the  Emerald  Isle,  and  within 
two  years  came  to  America.  Most  of  these  emi- 
grants were  not  poor  bog-trotters  or  potato-eaters 
who  had  lived  in  hovels,  but  were  industrious,  well- 
educated,  thrifty,  virtuous  people  of  faith  and  char- 
acter. Of  this  great  host,  many  came  to  New 
England  as  early  as  1715,  and  probably  as  many  as 
fifty  thousand  in  all.  Twice  as  many  entered  the 
Southern  colonies,  but  the  greater  majority  came  to 
Pennsylvania  and  the  middle  region,  whence,  grad- 
ually, they  scattered  into  all  the  colonies.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  colo- 
nists from  Ireland  numbered  not  very  far  from  one 
million  people,  a  majority  being  Covenanters  or 
"Scotch-Irish,"  that  is,  Scottish-English-Huguenot- 
Dutch-Irish,  a  splendid  composite.  In  all  the  thir- 
teen colonies,  there  were,  in  1775,  not  quite  three 
million  souls,  of  which  about  one-half  were  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  and  one-half  north  of  it. 

A  great  volume  would  be  needed  to  tell  the  in- 
fluence and  results  of  this,  the  largest  emigration 
to  America.  It  was  not  very  romantic  for  either 
Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  any  more  than  for  France 


244       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

or  Germany,  to  lose  so  large  an  elect  portion  of 
their  population ;  but  it  is  a  large  element  in  the 
romance  of  the  colonization  of  America.  The 
people  of  this  composite  stock  were  of  splendid 
physical  vigor  and  rich  in  intellect  and  character. 
Their  good  works  are  especially  seen  in  education, 
to  say  nothing  of  religion,  learning,  enterprise,  and 
political  genius.  Almost  all  the  schools  and  col- 
leges in  the  Southern  colonies  before  the  Revolu- 
tion were  of  their  founding,  and  much  the  same 
may  be  said  of  the  Middle  states.  In  these  insti- 
tutions were  trained  many  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Revolution,  —  warriors,  statesmen,  men  of  foresight 
and  leadership. 

I  frankly  confess  that,  at  the  Centennial  Exposi- 
tion at  Philadelphia  in  1876,  nothing,  in  all  that 
gathering  of  the  world's  product  of  mind  and  hand, 
so  impressed  me  as  the  library  of  books  written  by 
the  graduates  of  Princeton  College,  which  had  been 
first  begun  by  the  Scotch-Irish  in  a  log  cabin.  The 
majority  of  the  patriots  in  the  Continental  armies, 
outside  of  the  Eastern  colonies,  were  from  these 
people.  In  Hanover,  Middletown,  Westmoreland, 
Fort  Pitt,  and  Chester  counties  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  at  Mecklenburg,  North  Carolina,  in  1774  and 
1775,  they  were  the  first  to  declare  for  indepen- 
dence. 

Many  pages  of  this  book   would  not   suffice   to 


THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  EMIGRATION. 


245 


print  the  long  list  of  thousands  of  eminent  men 
from  this  body  of  colonists.  The  names  of  one-half 
of  the  presidents  of  the  United  States,  of  vice-pres- 
idents, senators,  representatives,  cabinet  officers,  and 
foreign  envoys  of  the  United  States  by  the  hun- 
dreds ;  of  governors,  civil  and  military  officers  in  the 
colonies  and  states,  by  the  thousands ;  of  George 
Clinton,  William  Livingston,  Thomas  McKean, 
Richard  Caswell,  Edward  Rutledge  in  the  colonies ; 
of  fourteen  of  the  fifty-five  signers  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence ;  of  Generals  Knox,  Sullivan, 
Stark,  Montgomery,  Wayne,  Howard,  Campbell, 
Morgan,  Pickens,  Clarke,  in  the  Revolution ;  of 
Oliver  Hazard  and  Matthew  C.  Perry ;  of  heroes  on 
both  sides  in  the  Civil  War  to  be  counted,  as  officers 
by  the  thousands,  as  privates  by  tens  of  thousands, 
would  be  in  the  list.  No  romance  of  colonization 
could  ignore  this  mighty  movement.  In  all  our 
country's  history  no  fact  is  more  apparent. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

WASHINGTON,    THE    COLONIAL    FRONTIERSMAN. 

THE  dynastic  and  Indian  wars,  in  which  the  colo- 
nists had  been  compelled  to  take  part,  were  as  so 
many  terms  in  a  school  by  which  the  people  were 
gradually  educated  into  the  ideas  of  union,  with 
common  interests,  and  one  language,  nationality, 
and  destiny.  The  first  wars,  such  as  the  "  Pequot  " 
and  "  King  Philip's,"  or  that  with  the  Mohicans  or 
the  Tuscaroras,  had  been  those  of  races,  —  between 
the  white  and  the  red  men.  Into  the  wars  with  the 
French,  the  colonists  had  been  dragged  because  of 
European  politics  and  their  connections  with  the 
mother  country,  but  none  of  them  thus  far  caused  a 
general  movement,  or  had  occupied  the  attention 
of  all  the  colonies.  Nevertheless,  there  was  an 
increasing  community  of  interests  and  dangers,  of 
hopes  and  fears,  which  brought  a  good  many  colo- 
nists together  to  act  as  brothers  in  the  same  cause. 
Men  now  began  to  see  that  it  would  be  a  good 
thing  if  all  the  colonies  could  act  together  in  unity. 
The  "  old  French  war,"  from  1 744  to  1 748,  was 

246 


WASHINGTON,    THE    COLONIAL   FRONTIERSMAN.      247 

really  the  war  of  the  "  Austrian  Succession."  Begun 
in  Germany,  it  was  ended  in  Europe,  Asia,  and 
America.  The  peace,  which  came  without  honor, 
settled  nothing  regarding  the  question  at  issue  in 
America.  Indeed,  the  treaty  was  so  made  that  it 
guaranteed  another  war.  This  time,  beginning  in 
1755  and  lasting  until  1763,  the  strife  was  to  break 
out  first  in  America,  before  England  and  France 
should  be  involved.  Instead  of  being  the  "  king's 
war,"  it  was  to  be  one  of  the  people. 

The  situation,  to  one  who  wanted  to  see  North 
America  governed  according  to  Anglo-Saxon  ideas, 
was  a  serious  one.  Although  there  were  twice 
as  many  people  under  English  rule  between  Maine 
and  Florida,  as  there  were  Frenchmen  in  all  North 
America,  yet  the  French  possessed  the  two  largest 
and  longest  rivers  of  the  continent,  —  the  St.  Law- 
rence with  its  great  lakes  and  tributaries,  and  the 
Mississippi  River  with  its  many  branches.  With 
only  two  or  three  "  carries,"  a  canoe,  or  a  fleet  of 
canoes,  could  move  swiftly  by  water  from  Quebec 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Between  these  two  points 
the  French  had  already  built  forts,  by  which  they 
commanded  the  trade  with  the  Indians.  Their 
situations  were  so  well  chosen  by  the  French  en- 
gineers that,  although  ramparts  and  palisades  have 
long  since  vanished,  great  cities  and  centres  of 
trade  stand  on  their  sites. 


248       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

One  of  the  first  signs  that  the  English  and  the 
colonists  were  waking  up  to  their  danger  was  the 
organization  of  the  Ohio  Company,  for  the  purpose 
of  planting  settlements  along  the  head  waters  of  the 
Ohio  River,  in  what  is  now  western  Pennsylvania. 
Their  grant  of  land  gave  them  five  hundred  thousand 
acres,  between  the  Kanawha  and  the  Monongahela 
rivers,  in  southern  Pennsylvania  and  northern 
West  Virginia.  This  region  was  then  rightly 
called  "  the  gateway  of  the  West,"  because  it  controls 
the  streams  and  valleys  running  out  from  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  toward  the  Mississippi  valley. 
It  was  in  the  highest  degree  of  strategic  importance. 

Lawrence  Washington,  who  had  been  educated  in 
England,  was  made  the  chief  manager  of  the  com- 
pany. Lawrence  was  the  older  brother  of  George. 
He  had  served  under  the  British  admiral  Edward 
Vernon  in  the  West  Indies,  taking  part  in  the  bom- 
bardment of  the  Spanish  ports  of  Porto  Bello  and 
Cartagena.  He  had  brought  home  with  him  a 
Dutch  soldier,  Jacob  Van  Braam,  who  became 
George  Washington's  military  instructor.  He 
named  the  estate,  left  him  by  his  father,  Mount 
Vernon.  While  occupied  in  frontier  business, 
Lawrence  secured  the  appointment  of  his  brother 
George,  then  only  nineteen  years  old,  as  assistant 
adjutant-general  of  Virginia  with  rank  of  major. 
Then  "  old  Van  Braam  "  and  Adjutant  Battaile  Muse 


WASHINGTON,    THE    COLONIAL  FRONTIERSMAN.      249 

trained  the  young  man  to  his  duties.  To  Lawrence 
Washington  belongs  the  honor  of  the  initiation  of 
the  settlement  of  the  Great  West. 

The  French  did  not  wait  to  see,  but  as  soon  as 
they  heard,  what  the  English  were  doing,  they  sent 
surveyors,  engineers,  and  soldiers  into  the  Ohio 
country  and  began  building  a  new  line  of  forts,  from 
Lake  Erie  to  the  junction  of  the  two  streams  that 
form  the  Ohio  River.  This  aroused  Governor  Din- 
widdie,  of  Virginia,  to  maintain  the  English  claims, 
which  were  based  on  direct  purchase  of  the  Ohio 
valley  from  the  Iroquois  Indians,  who,  as  lords  of 
the  soil,  having  conquered  it  from  the  western  tribes, 
had  sold  it  to  the  whites. 

Lawrence  Washington  died  in  1752,  but  Din- 
widdie  selected  his  brother  George,  whom  he  or- 
dered to  march  three  hundred  miles,  with  his  com- 
panions, over  the  mountains  and  the  rivers  and 
among  the  Indians,  to  a  place  called  Venango,  to 
give  notice  to  the  French  that  they  were  intruders 
and  must  be  off.  At  this  time  Washington  was 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  an  athletic,  well-knit  young 
man,  who  had  received  a  fair  common  school  educa- 
tion, under  his  teachers,  Messrs.  Hobby  and  Will- 
iams. He  understood  surveying  and  horseman- 
ship, and  had  learned  woodcraft  and,  what  was  most 
valuable,  how  to  travel  and  live  in  the  forest.  On 
such  journeys  he  used  to  wear  the  usual  buckskin 


250      THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

costume  of  the  trapper  and  pioneer.  On  occasions 
of  ceremony  at  home,  his  outer  dress  consisted  of 
a  long-skirted  and  red  cloth  coat  having  plenty 
of  buttons,  with  dress  sword  and  sash,  knee-breeches, 
silk  stockings,  and  silver-buckled  shoes.  Besides 
a  long  waistcoat  with  stock,  ruffles,  and  lace  cuffs, 
he  put  on  a  cocked  hat.  On  his  breast  hung  the 
polished  brass  gorget,  such  as  all  officers  wore, 
showing  his  allegiance  to  the  king. 

Two  years'  instruction  under  the  Dutch  officer, 
Jacob  Van  Braam,  had  perfected  him  in  the  manual 
of  arms,  and  given  him  an  insight  into  tactics  and 
fortification.  It  is  very  probable  that  this  veteran 
military  instructor  told  Washington  much  about 
Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  the  great  soldier  of  the 
republic,  who  had  done  wonders  with  a  very  small 
army,  who  accomplished  so  much  by  the  spade  and 
earthworks,  and  who  made  engineering  so  large  a 
part  of  the  soldier's  profession.  It  is  certain  that 
during  all  his  military  life,  Washington,  the  sur- 
veyor-boy who  became  commander-in-chief,  relied 
much  on  earthworks  and  engineering,  and  did  as 
great  wonders  with  his  little  army  as  Maurice  had 
done  with  his. 

With  only  two  or  three  companions,  the  young 
assistant  adjutant  of  Virginia,  in  1753,  made  the 
journey  over  the  mountains  and  delivered  his  mes- 
sage to  the  French  commander,  but  received  no 


WASHINGTON,    THE    COLONIAL  FRONTIERSMAN.      2$ I 

satisfactory  reply;  so  that  it  became  evident  that 
military  force  would  have  to  be  used  to  settle  the 
question  of  ownership. 

From  the  first,  Washington  had  wisely  invested  his 
earnings  as  surveyor  in  well-selected  Virginia  lands. 
This  journey  to  what  was  then  the  almost  unknown 
"far  West"  laid  the  broader  foundations  of  Wash- 
ington's fortune,  and  he  became  one  of  the  richest 
men  in  the  colonies,  and  able  to  serve  without 
salary.  He  bought  large  areas  of  the  Western  terri- 
tory, which  he  believed  would  one  day  be  occupied 
and  made  into  homes  for  English-speaking  people. 
Ever  afterwards  he  was  interested  in  the  question 
of  opening  the  WTest  to  civilization,  by  making  high- 
ways on  land  and  by  water,  so  as  to  secure  easy 
communication  for  travellers,  and  to  bring  the 
Western  products  to  the  Eastern  markets. 

Thus  what  is  called  the  "  French  and  Indian 
War"  was  really  begun  in  southwestern  Pennsyl- 
vania, with  Washington  as  the  chief  actor.  The 
Ohio  Company  began  building  a  fort  at  the  junction 
of  the  two  rivers,  but  the  workmen  were  driven 
away  by  the  French,  who  seized  the  place  and 
named  it  Fort  Du  Quesne,  after  their  naval  com- 
mander, then  governor  of  Canada,  who  had  fought 
De  Ruyter  and  the  Dutch  and  Spaniards  in  the 
Mediterranean.  Washington,  now  adjutant  of  the 
colony  and  lieutenant-colonel  of  a  Virginia  regi- 


252       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

ment,  was  sent  as  the  governor's  agent  with  power. 
In  April,  1754,  he  set  out  with  two  companies  for 
Mill  Creek,  arriving  after  a  three  weeks'  rough  jour- 
ney. After  a  skirmish  and  a  siege  in  Fort  Neces- 
sity, he  surrendered  to  superior  force,  and  returned 
home  defeated,  but  with  honor. 

On  reaching  Mount  Vernon  again,  the  name  of 
Washington  was  upon  every  lip.  He  deserved 
high  honors,  but  the  way  in  which  he  was  treated 
shows  how  foolish  the  British  authorities  behaved 
and  how  they  alienated  the  Americans  from  loyalty 
to  the  king.  It  was  made  a  rule  that  colonial 
officers,  no  matter  what  their  rank,  should  be  sub- 
ordinate to  British  officers  of  the  same  grade.  The 
men  who  came  over  from  England,  and  knew  next 
to  nothing  about  fighting  Indians  in  the  woods, 
looked  with  disdain  upon  American  troops,  a  folly 
for  which  many  of  them  paid  dearly. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

FALL    OF    THE    FRENCH    POWER    IN    AMERICA. 

ARNED  and  urged  by  the  Iroquois  Indians, 
and  spurred  on  by  the  necessities  and  dangers 
of  the  situation,  which  grew  more  serious  everyday, 
a  convention  of  the  Northern  colonies  met  at  Al- 
bany, the  ancient  place  of  treaties.  Among  the 
delegates  were  Sir  William  Johnson  and  Governor 
Delancey  of  New  York,  King  Hendrik,  the  Mohawk 
chieftain,  Benjamin  Franklin  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts.  To  the  minds 
of  the  Indians,  who  were  then  a  powerful  political 
factor  in  the  struggle  for  America,  Albany,  as  being 
so  near  Tawasentha,  the  scene  of  Hiawatha's  labors, 
and  as  "  the  place  of  many  dead,"  had  much  the 
same  associations  as  Westminster  Abbey  has  to  a 
speaker  of  the  English  tongue. 

With  the  example  of  the  Dutch  republic,  the 
union  of  the  New  England  colonies,  and  the  Iro- 
quois Confederacy  before  them,  the  colonists  won- 
dered why  they  could  not  unite  together  to  form,  as 
Jacob  Leisler  had  already  proposed  in  1690,  a  fed- 
eral union.  The  chief  newspaper  then  published  in 

253 


254       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

the  colonies  was  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  edited 
by  Franklin.  In  this  he  had  published  the  picture 
of  a  snake  cut  in  ten  parts,  each  part  named  after 
one  of  the  Southern  or  Middle  colonies,  New  Eng- 
land being  the  head  and  neck.  Underneath  was  the 
motto,  "  Unite  or  die." 

The  Congress  enjoyed  a  public  dinner  in  the 
Albany  City  Hall,  June  19,  1764.  There  were 
twenty-five  delegates  from  nine  colonies,  all  being 
represented  except  New  Jersey,  the  Carolinas,  and 
Georgia.  Whether  in  personal  or  representative 
dignity,  this  Congress  was  the  most  august  assem- 
bly which  had  ever  been  held  in  the  Western  world. 
The  business  opened  with  a  paper  from  Sir  William 
Johnson  and  a  speech  from  King  Hendrik.  Some 
of  the  colonial  delegates  must  have  received  new 
ideas  about  the  right  way  to  deal  with  the  Indians, 
for  they  saw  that  the  New  Yorkers  believed  the  red 
man  capable  of  understanding  and  honor,  treating 
them  in  the  spirit  of  the  Golden  Rule  and  the  Ten 
Commandments,  rather  than  according  to  the  laws 
of  Joshua  and  Ezra.  Arendt  Van  Curler  had  taught 
the  method  and  set  the  example.  On  the  fifth  day, 
a  motion  was  made  and  carried  unanimously,  that  a 
union  of  all  the  colonies  was  absolutely  necessary  for 
their  security  and  defence.  On  the  gth  of  July  the 
Congress  voted  "  that  there  be  a  union  of  His  Maj- 
esty's several  governments  on  the  continent,  so  that 


FALL    OF   THE  FRENCH  POWER  IN  AMERICA.       255 

their  councils,  treasure,  and  strength  may  be  em- 
ployed in  due  proportion  against  their  common 
enemy."  According  to  this  Albany  plan  of  union, 
there  were  to  be  forty-eight  members  to  meet  at 
Philadelphia  under  a  president-general. 

From  the  meeting  of  colonial  delegates  in  Albany, 
after  the  burning  of  Schenectady  in  1690,  the  word 
"Congress"  had  taken  on  a  new  meaning,  which  is 
very  much  like  that  now  employed.  Furthermore, 
the  idea  of  a  "  continental "  policy  as  distinct  from 
the  British,  the  independent  as  discriminated  from 
trans-Atlantic  ideas,  grew.  In  the  common  talk  of 
the  people  the  continental  man  was  he  who  was  more 
and  more  interested  in  what  all  the  colonies  did  in 
union,  and  less  in  what  the  king's  ministers  were 
pleased  to  propose  according  to  their  individual 
whims  or  notions.  The  Albany  Congress  was  a 
great  educator  of  the  American  people,  who  be- 
gan to  think,  as  Wickliffe  had  long  before  done, 
and  the  Dutch  first,  and  then  the  British  had  re- 
quired, that  the  dominion  of  a  king  ought  to  be 
founded  in  grace,  and  manifested  in  the  will  and 
ability  to  govern  in  righteousness,  rather  than  rest 
on  mere  hereditary  right.  As  might  be  supposed, 
King  George  rejected  the  Albany  plan  of  union, 
dreading  the  very  idea,  as  the  beginning  of  inde- 
pendence, and  scouting  the  idea  that  the  colonies 
should  be  represented  in  Parliament. 


256       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

The  British  government,  responding  to  the  appeal 
of  Governor  Dinwiddie,  was  now  thoroughly  aroused, 
and  the  plan  of  a  general  campaign  was  elaborated. 
Major-General  Edward  Braddock,  with  a  force  of 
two  thousand  regulars  and  provincials,  was  to  re- 
duce Fort  Du  Quesne ;  Governor  Shirley  of  Massa- 
chusetts was  to  capture  Niagara  ;  Sir  William  John- 
son, with  his  Indian  militia,  was  to  seize  Crown 
Point;  and  the  Eastern  colonists  were  to  attack 
Acadia.  Thus  four  expeditions  were  to  be  set  on 
foot  to  crush  the  French  power  and  to  maintain  the 
British  hold  on  North  America. 

The  military  history  of  the  colonies  during  this 
war  belongs  properly  to  the  romance  of  war,  and 
not  of  colonization.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Braddock 
was  defeated.  At  Lake  George  a  battle  was  fought, 
which  was  "  a  failure  disguised  by  an  incidental 
success."  Niagara  was  captured  by  Sir  William 
Johnson,  Fort  Du  Quesne  was  taken  in  a  second 
campaign,  New  Brunswick  was  seized,  and  Louis- 
burg  was  retaken.  About  eight  thousand  Acadians, 
French  people  who  would  not  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  were  compelled  to  give  up  their  property 
and  to  find  refuge  elsewhere.  This  was  done  so 
hastily  that  families  were  separated  and  much  suffer- 
ing caused.  The  pitiful  story  has  been  partially 
told  in  Longfellow's  beautiful  poem  "  Evangeline." 

Yet,  on  the  whole,  the  war  was  rather  feebly  con- 


FALL    Of   THE  FRENCH  POWER  /N  AMERICA.       257 

ducted,  until  William  Pitt  was  made  British  Prime 
Minister.  When  he  succeeded  in  infusing  other  men 
with  his  own  dauntless  spirit,  the  end  was  not  far  off. 
One  of  the  great  decisive  battles  of  the  world 
took  place  before  Quebec,  where  Montcalm  had 
gathered  his  forces.  He  was  confronted  by  Wolfe, 
who  was  a  soldier  from  his  youth,  had  seen  service 
in  the  Netherlands.  After  the  failures  of  his 
predecessors  he  assured  his  sovereign  that  he 
should  take  Quebec  or  die.  He  had  arrived  in  June, 
1759,  in  command  of  eight  thousand  men.  In  the 
first  attack  of  July  31,  he  suffered  repulse.  So 
long  as  Montcalm  held  the  great  rocky  fortress 
called  the  Gibraltar  of  America,  and  the  French 
admiral  had  plenty  of  ships  and  boats  in  the  river, 
it  seemed  as  though  Quebec  would  not  fall.  Yet 
Wolfe,  though  ill,  discovered  through  his  glass  a 
ravine  up  which  it  seemed  possible  for  a  forlorn 
hope  to  climb.  While  the  English  ships  perplexed 
the  French  admiral  and  made  a  feint  of  landing 
further  up  the  stream,  Wolfe,  at  the  right  turn  of 
the  tide,  took  thirty-six  hundred  men  and  dropped 
down  the  river,  where  he  was  joined  by  twelve  hun- 
dred men  from  Point  Levi  on  the  opposite  side. 
Then,  by  climbing  up  the  ladder-like  ledges  of  the 
rocky  ravine,  the  British  forces  reached  the  summit 
and  formed  in  battle  array  in  the  rear  of  the  French 
host. 


2 $8       THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Montcalm  thought  that  the  British  army  was  still 
in  front  of  him  when  the  sun  rose  upon  the  plateau 
above  the  heights  of  Abraham.  Then  he  heard 
firing  in  front  of  the  town,  and  was  surprised  to  see 
the  red-coated  British  army  in  line  of  battle.  Mont- 
calm  hurried  forward  his  regiments,  while  his 
opponent  led  his  Louisburg  grenadiers  in  the 
charge.  Wolfe  was  struck  by  a  bullet  and  taken  to 
the  rear.  He  died  happily  when  he  heard  that  the 
French  were  retreating.  Montcalm  was  also  mor- 
tally wounded,  and  was  glad  to  be  spared  the  sight 
of  seeing  the  lily  flag  lowered  over  the  last  strong- 
hold of  France  in  America. 

The  French  gave  up  their  cause  as  lost,  but 
Pontiac  could  not  accept  cheerfully  the  change  of 
masters.  He  had  long  been  the  ally  of  the  French 
and  was  perhaps  present  at  Braddock's  defeat.  Be- 
coming chief  of  three  large  tribes,  he  organized  a 
conspiracy  among  all  the  Indians  between  the 
Ottawa  and  the  lower  Mississippi.  In  May,  1763, 
these  confederated  red  men  raised  the  war-whoop 
and  rushed  out  on  the  war-path.  Eight  of  the 
British  garrisons,  between  Pittsburg  and  Mackinaw, 
were  destroyed  or  dispersed  on  the  same  day,  and 
the  whole  frontier  was  ravaged. 

The  attack  on  Detroit,  which  Pontiac  led  in  per- 
son, failed  because  love  was  stronger  than  death. 
A  young  Indian  girl  betrayed  the  plot  to  the  com- 


FALL    OF  THE  FRENCH  POWER  IN  AMERICA.       2$g 

mander  of  the  fort.  It  was  a  new  thing  for  an 
Indian  to  lay  siege  to  a  fort,  but  Pontiac  did  so, 
beleaguering  Detroit  five  months,  from  the  middle 
of  May  to  the  middle  of  October.  He  kept  up  his 
force  with  food  received  from  the  Canadian  settlers, 
whom  he  paid  with  promissory  notes  written  on 
birch  bark  and  which  he  afterwards  redeemed.  The 
scattered  war  continued  for  years,  but  this  last 
attempt  made  by  many  confederated  tribes  to  expel 
the  white  man  and  to  reconquer  their  hunting- 
grounds  failed  hopelessly. 

During  all  this  time  the  six  Iroquois  nations  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  covenant  of  Corlaer.  The 
Delawares  and  Shawnees  had  got  possession  of 
rifles,  which  enabled  them  to  carry  less  ammunition 
and  move  more  alertly  than  when  armed  with  mus- 
kets only.  The  Iroquois  were  sent  out  against 
them  by  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  traded  in  scalps 
and  thus  set  a  bad  example  to  the  British  govern- 
ment and  Continental  Congress,  in  the  policy  of 
employing  the  Indians  in  war  against  white  men. 

One  of  the  largest  conventions  of  red  men  ever 
held  on  the  continent  gathered  at  Niagara  on  July  8, 
1764,  at  the  call  of  Sir  William  Johnson.  From 
Dakota  to  Hudson's  Bay,  and  from  Maine  to 
Kentucky,  the  Indians  who  were  favorable  to  the 
English  cause  gathered  "to  brighten  the  silver 
chain  of  friendship"  and  with  smoking  calumet, 


26O      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

shining  wampum,  and  buried  tomahawk  to  swear 
allegiance  to  "  Kora  Kowa,"-  -the  great  Van  Curler, 
as  the  Indians  call  the  sovereign  of  Great  Britain. 
Hundreds  of  white  captives  were  given  up  to  their 
homes  and  relatives.  Johnson's  agent  went  further 
westward,  and  Pontiac  made  overtures  of  peace. 
At  Detroit  on  August  17,  the  Indians,  who  had 
lately  been  in  arms,  "  opened  the  path  of  the  Eng- 
lish from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun,"  burying  the 
war  hatchet,  smoking  the  calumet,  and  planting  the 
tree  of  peace. 

Pontiac  himself  met  Johnson  at  Oswego,  July  23. 
Amid  every  possible  accessory  of  impressive  dis- 
play and  ceremony,  besides  the  sacred  tokens  of 
friendship  and  the  sacramental  wampum,  promises 
of  peace  were  exchanged.  Then  Pontiac  and  his 
braves  moved  out  in  their  canoes  over  Lake  Onta- 
rio to  the  west  and  to  obscurity.  Henceforth  the 
way  of  civilization  was  cleared,  and  the  march  of 
the  white  men  to  the  Pacific  began. 

In  October,  1768,  another  convention  of  Indians 
was  held  at  Fort  Stanwix,  now  Rome,  New  York, 
over  three  thousand  red  men  being  present.  For 
fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  plenty  of  rum,  and 
the  due  exchange  of  speeches  and  wampum,  the  su- 
zerain tribes  of  the  Six  Nations,  with  their  allies  and 
vassals,  sold  outright  to  the  king  the  vast  territory 
now  occupied  by  Kentucky,  western  Virginia,  and 


FALL    OF   THE  FRENCH  POWER   IN  AMERICA.       261 

western  Pennsylvania.  The  next  year  Daniel 
Boone  led  from  the  southern  Atlantic  coast  that 
great  emigration  of  white  men  which  resulted  in 
the  winning  of  the  West.  Latin  civilization,  except 
as  it  could  be  modified  by  the  Germanic-American 
spirit,  had  left  the  whole  continent  north  of  Mexico 
forever. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

LAWFUL    RESISTANCE    TO    UNLAWFUL   TAXATION. 

THE  French  and  Indian  wars  had  brought  to- 
gether in  comradeship  from  the  various  colo- 
nies large  bodies  of  men,  who  had  learned  much 
from  one  another.  These,  by  their  experiences,  were 
now  inspired  to  further  enterprise.  Thousands  of 
brave  men  had  been  trained  in  the  use  of  arms  in 
war.  When,  as  often  happened,  they  saw  the  regu- 
lar soldiers  of  Europe  turn  and  fly,  while  colonial 
riflemen  stood  up  and  faced  the  enemy,  it  took 
away  all  fear  of  "  the  king's  troops  "  and  educated 
the  colonists  for  the  War  of  Independence. 

Furthermore,  when  the  French  were  no  longer  a 
power,  the  colonists  felt  less  the  need  of  protection 
from  the  British  government.  The  Indians,  though 
still  a  great  danger,  became  of  almost  no  political 
importance.  Practically  all  hostile  forces  had  been 
cleared  from  the  region  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  Alleghany  Mountains  were  no  longer  a  barrier. 
With  such  a  state  of  mind  and  in  such  a  situation, 
the  very  highest  wisdom  in  the  government  at  Lon- 
don was  needed  to  rule  wisely  the  American  colonies. 

262 


LAWFUL  RESISTANCE    TO    UNLAWFUL    TAXATION.      263 

It  usually  happens  as  between  people  in  the  old 
home  land  and  those  in  the  colonies,  that  the  latter 
know  much  more  about  the  people  in  the  mother 
country  than  these  do  about  the  colonists.  To-day, 
in  the  United  States,  the  Western  people  are  better 
acquainted  with  the  Eastern  people  and  affairs  than 
the  latter  are  with  the  former.  The  newer  people 
hold  tenaciously  the  old  history  and  traditions,  even 
if  they  do  not  follow  the  latest  fashions.  The  sur- 
viving soldiers  of  the  large  British  armies  in  Amer- 
ica, on  returning  to  Great  Britain,  told  about  the 
land  in  which  there  were  thriving  towns  and  vil- 
lages, with  churches,  colleges  and  schools,  printing 
presses  and  newspapers,  and  rich  farms.  Popular 
literature  in  the  old  country  made  English  America 
better  known,  but  it  must  be  said  that  it  came  like 
a  surprise  to  the  majority  of  British  people  to  learn 
about  these  colonies,  with  their  governments  that 
raised  armies  and  had  navies  and  that  voted  large 
sums  of  money  for  carrying  on  the  war.  Experi- 
ences with  Indians  profoundly  affected  the  British 
imagination,  which  was  later  fed  and  stimulated  by 
travellers.  Cooper's  novels  have  made  most  British 
folks,  especially  the  aristocratic  and  uncritical,  think 
that  red  men  in  feathers,  war-paint,  fringed  buck- 
skin, and  moccasins  are  even  yet  quite  common 
in  the  Atlantic  coast  cities. 

It   had  cost  an  enormous  amount  of  money  to 


264       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

carry  on  the  war  against  the  French  in  America, 
and  the  taxes  laid  upon  the  people  to  pay  the 
interest  on  the  debt  was  very  heavy.  It  was  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  the  Stuarts  that  Parliament  had 
gained  this  power  of  taxing  the  people  and  also 
of  dictating  to  the  king.  Charles  I.  and  II.  and 
James  I.  and  II.  had  vainly  tried  to  raise  revenue 
without  the  aid  of  the  people's  representatives. 
In  the  struggle  between  the  people  and  their 
rulers,  the  monarch  had  to  give  up  his  powers,  so 
that  the  power  of  the  chief  servant  of  the  people, 
who  sits  on  the  throne  to-day,  is  almost  nothing. 
The  queen  makes  a  good  and  obedient  figure- 
head and  Great  Britain  is  practically  a  republic. 

Finding  great  difficulty  in  providing  the  revenue 
necessary  to  pay  interest  on  the  war  debt,  the 
Parliament  of  King  George  III.  began  to  think  of 
taxing  the  colonists  in  America.  So  William  Pitt 
arranged  a  system,  borrowed  largely  from  that  in 
use  in  the  republic  of  the  United  Netherlands  when 
fighting  for  independence  against  Spain  from  1568 
to  1648.  The  Dutch  had  been  able  to  pay  their 
way  during  eighty  years  of  war  by  taxing  food  and 
drink,  windows  and  chimneys,  and  almost  everything 
bought,  sold,  or  used.  They  cheerfully  paid  their 
taxes  and  had  almost  no  war  debt,  when  they  had 
ended  their  long  struggle.  This  was  because  they 
were  well  represented  and  voted  the  budget  them- 
selves. 


LAWFUL   RESISTANCE    TO    UNLAWFUL    TAXATION.      26$ 

In  America,  too,  in  the  colonial  Assemblies 
where  the  people  through  their  own  representa- 
tives ordered  the  taxes  which  they  were  to  pay,  they 
cheerfully  voted  enormous  sums.  When  they  were 
allowed  to  say  what  the  salaries  of  the  king's 
officers  should  be,  they  gladly  paid  these  also. 
When,  however,  these  salaries  were  fixed  in  Eng- 
land, or  by  the  governors  and  judges  themselves, 
without  regard  to  the  wish  of  the  colony's  repre- 
sentatives, there  was  continual  trouble  between  the 
people  and  their  rulers. 

The  British  government  determined  not  only 
to  tax  the  colonists,  but  also  to  enforce  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Navigation  Act.  This  forbade  the 
colonists  to  trade  with  any  country  except  Great 
Britain.  These  laws  concerning  shipping  had  been 
made  a  century  before,  with  the  idea  of  ruining 
Dutch  trade  and  getting  possession  of  the  carry- 
ing business  on  the  ocean.  For  a  long  time  the 
Navigation  Act  had  not  been  enforced  in  the 

O 

colonies.  Colonial  fortunes  had  been  made  by 
trading  in  the  West  Indies,  by  sending  lumber 
and  fish  and  getting  in  return  molasses,  sugar,  and 
Spanish  milled  dollars. 

When  King  George  III.,  of  that  Hanoverian 
line  which  showed  how  many  foreign  dynasties 
have  ruled  England,  came  to  the  throne,  he,  like 
a  conceited  young  man,  was  inclined  to  over-govern. 


266      THE   ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

He  vigorously  seconded  the  determination  of  Par- 
liament to  tax  the  colonies.  British  ships  were 
sent  to  the  American  coast  to  stop  the  trade  with 
the  West  Indies  and  with  Europe.  Almost  all 
the  tea  drunk  in  the  colonies  had  been  smuggled 
from  Holland,  and  much  lucrative  trade  had  long 
been  driven  with  the  Spanish,  French,  and  Dutch 
West  Indies. 

The  royal  officers  enforced  this  law  with  sudden 
and  great  severity.  Under  what  were  called  Writs 
of  Assistance,  they  entered  the  colonists'  houses  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  searching  from 
top  to  bottom,  without  regard  to  the  owner's  con- 
venience. Nearly  all  laws  can  be  used  as  engines 
of  personal  spite.  This  one  gave  the  king's  offi- 
cers and  their  adherents  fine  opportunities  of 
wreaking  their  malice  against  persons  whom  they 
did  not  like.  Thus  the  import  trade  of  the  colo- 
nists was  nearly  ruined.  The  spirit  of  the  whole 
policy  was  exactly  that  which  had  broken  up  the 
industries  of  Ireland  and  compelled  thousands  of 
Ulstermen  to  emigrate  to  America  to  save  them- 
selves from  starvation. 

In  England  certain  of  the  measures  of  taxation 
resorted  to  were  very  unpopular,  especially  the  tax 
on  windows.  In  old  parts  of  London,  one  may 
still  find  houses  in  which  windows  were  bricked  up, 
in  order  to  avoid  paying  the  tax  on  light.  Those 


LAWFUL  RESISTANCE    TO    UNLAWFUL    TAXATION.      267 

who  supported  George  III.  in  his  arbitrary  meas- 
ures not  a  few  of  whom  were  notorious  jobbers 
and  speculators,  were  called  "the  kings  friends." 
There  were  also  a  great  many  well-wishers  of  the 
colonies,  some  of  them  in  the  Parliament,  like 
William  Pitt  and  Edmund  Burke,  and  some  out- 
side, like  the  Rev.  Dr.  Price.  This  Unitarian 
clergyman  wrote  pamphlets  of  great  vigor,  show- 
ing keen  knowledge  of  finance  and  of  the  principles 
of  liberty.  He  denounced  the  wicked  schemes 
and  robber-like  plans  of  "the  moneyed  friends  of 
the  government."  He  declared  England  to  be  a 
stepmother  rather  than  a  true  parent,  and  argued 
that  even  though  most  of  the  colonists  were  of 
British  descent,  this  fact  conferred  no  more  right 
upon  Great  Britain  to  lay  taxes  than  upon  Ger- 
many to  tax  Englishmen  because  the  first  historic 
settlers  of  England  were  Germanic  tribes.  Dr. 
Price's  pamphlets  were  circulated  by  the  tens  of 
thousands  in  Great  Britain.  They  were  also  trans- 
lated into  Dutch  by  the  statesman  Van  der  Ca- 
pellen,  who  throughout  remained  a  firm  friend  of 
the  American  cause. 

Against  the  protest  of  those  who  understood  the 
American  spirit  and  the  principles  of  civil  liberty 
best,  Parliament,  which  was  then,  in  the  main,  a 
very  corrupt  body  of  politicians,  passed  the  Stamp 
Act  in  1765.  This  decreed  that  all  important 


268       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

papers  used  in  legal  or  business  matters,  all  printed 
matter,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers  were  to  have 
stamps  put  on  them,  which  cost  from  half  a  penny 
to  ten  pounds.  Without  the  stamps,  manuscript 
or  print  was  illegal. 

The  Stamp  Act  was  a  tremendous  stimulant  to 
political  discussion.  Under  its  menace,  there  broke 
out  a  war  of  pamphlets  written  for  and  against  the 
measure,  but  chiefly  in  opposition.  The  pulpit  was 
also  arrayed  against  the  scheme.  One  clergyman, 
Jonathan  Mayhew,  ridiculed  the  saintship  and  mar- 
tyrdom of  Charles  I.,  and  asserted  the  right  of  the 
people  to  disown  and  resist  bad  rulers,  as  English- 
men had  done  in  the  previous  century.  In  his  last 
message  to  James  Otis,  Mayhew  pleaded  for  a  perma- 
nent union  of  the  colonies  as  a  defence  against  evils 
to  come.  In  Boston  Faneuil  Hall,  built  and  pre- 
sented to  the  city  by  a  Huguenot  and  called  "  the  old 
cradle  of  liberty,"  after  the  hall  in  Utrecht,  where 
the  Dutch  formed  their  Union  of  States,  a  town 
meeting  was  held  and  in  it  Samuel  Adams  de- 
nounced the  act  in  fiery  eloquence.  In  London, 
Benjamin  Franklin  protested  against  it.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  all  remonstrances,  the  law  was  passed. 
Then  royal  officers  were  sent  over  into  all  the  large 
towns  with  a  supply  of  stamps. 

There  were  riots  in  Boston,  and  an  organization 
called  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  which  met  under  a  pine 


LAWFUL  RESISTANCE    TO    UNLAWFUL    TAXATION.      269 

tree,  tore  down  the  building  where  the  stamps  were 
to  be  sold,  and  hanged  and  burned  an  effigy  of  the 
royal  officer  who  was  to  sell  them.  James  Otis 
reaffirmed  the  principle  that  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation was  tyranny.  In  the  Virginia  Assembly, 
Patrick  Henry  spoke  so  vigorously  against  the  meas- 
ure and  so  great  was  the  opposition  in  other  col- 
onies, that  the  men  appointed  to  sell  the  stamps 
were  frightened  out  of  their  business  and  the  act 
was  not  enforced.  Nine  of  the  colonies  sent  dele- 
gates to  New  York  and  a  congress  was  held,  setting 
forth  the  ancient  Dutch  doctrine  that  the  right  to 
tax  men  belonged  to  their  representatives  alone. 
Yet  there  was  nowhere  any  objection  to  pay  taxes. 

When  news  of  these  proceedings  in  America 
reached  England,  Parliament  repealed  the  Stamp 
Act.  Yet,  as  the  objection  of  the  colonists  was  not 
to  the  tax,  but  to  the  way  in  which  it  was  levied  and 
collected,  this  repeal  did  not  bring  satisfaction  or 
allay  suspicion.  Parliament  still  foolishly  professed 
the  right  to  tax  the  colonies.  So  the  next  year 
another  act  was  passed.  This  imposed  duties  on 
imports,  such  as  tea,  glass,  paint,  and  paper.  To 
enforce  this  legislation,  agents  were  to  live  in  the 
seacoast  towns  where  the  British  naval  officers  could 
protect  them.  In  1 768  General  Gage,  who  had  been 
with  Braddock,  was  sent  over  with  two  regiments 
of  soldiers.  These  soldiers,  as  well  as  the  royal  gov- 


2/0      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

ernors,  judges,  and  other  officers,  were  to  be  paid 
with  the  money  raised  by  the  new  scheme  of  taxa- 
tion projected  under  the  Stamp  Act.  All  the  king's 
servants  were  to  be  made  independent  of  the  people. 
This  meant  an  increase  of  royal  power  and  the 
decrease  of  the  power  of  the  people,  whose  right  of 
voting  taxes,  inherited  first  from  their  Germanic 
and  then  from  their  British  ancestry,  was  to  be 
taken  away. 

The  struggle  for  ancient  rights  and  privileges 
which  now  began  was  to  last,  in  peace  and  war,  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  people  of  the 
colonies  agreed  with  one  another  not  to  buy,  sell,  or 
use  any  of  the  articles  which  were  taxed.  Those 
who  supported  the  king  were  called  Tories,  while 
the  Continentals,  or  Americans,  were  called  Whigs. 
Among  the  former  were  fine  families  and  individ- 
uals of  high  social  and  moral  character,  as  well  as 
some  rascals  and  traitors,  while  among  the  latter 
were  rough  characters;  yet  the  American  patriots 
had  most  of  the  right  on  their  side.  Not  a  little 
bitterness,  which  in  some  cases  broke  out  into  vio- 
lence, existed  between  the  adherents  of  ancient  right 
and  law  and  the  loyalists. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

GOLDEN    HILL,    ALAMANCE,    AND   THE    BOSTON 
MASSACRE. 


T^HE  people  of  New  York  were  especially  forward 
*  in  resisting  the  arbitrary  measures  of  king  and 
Parliament;  for,  in  addition  to  the  spirit  inherited 
from  their  own  Dutch  fathers  who  had  so  long 
battled  for  liberty,  the  Germans  were  irritated  at 
the  attempts  made  directly  and  indirectly  to  force 
the  church  of  England  upon  them.  In  the  Mohawk 
valley  and  on  Golden  Hill,  on  Manhattan  Island, 
they  erected  liberty  poles,  where  affrays  took  place 
between  the  Whigs  and  Tories.  The  soldiers  cut 
down  and  sawed  up  the  liberty  pole.  On  January 
18,  1770,  on  Golden  Hill,  of  which  Gold  Street  is 
still  a  remembrance,  a  fight  ensued  in  which  blood 
was  shed,  —  the  first  in  the  Revolution.  One  man, 
a  sailor,  died  from  his  wounds.  The  reerected 
liberty  pole  remained  until  the  British  occupation 
of  New  York  in  1776.  A  bronze  tablet  in  the 
Post  Office  commemorates  the  fact.  Liberty  poles 
were  the  survival  in  history  of  the  ancient  forest 

271 


272      THE  ROMANCE    OF  A  At  ERIC  AN  COLONIZATION. 

trees,  under  which  the  Teutonic  tribes  assembled  in 
council  for  war,  or  to  defend  their  rights. 

The  first  blood  shed  in  the  open  field  by  the 
cannon  and  musketry  of  royal  soldiers  was  in  the 
state  of  North  Carolina,  where  the  people  were 
divided  in  opinion.  The  admirers  and  adherents 
of  the  British  governor  William  Tryon  were  mostly 
on  one  side,  and  the  friends  of  righteousness  and 
the  people  were  nearly  all  on  the  other.  Tryon,  an 
Irishman,  had  married  a  relative  of  the  British 
secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies,  and  came  over 
in  1764.  At  Newbern  or  New  Berne,  which  had 
been  settled  and  named  by  Swiss  emigrants  in  1710, 
Tryon,  at  the  expense  of  the  colony,  built  a  mag- 
nificent residence.  He  carried  out  his  notions  with 
such  extravagance  and  rigor  that  the  people  became 
exasperated  and  formed  themselves  into  an  organi- 
zation to  secure  justice  and  better  government. 
These  men,  mostly  Scotch-Irish,  were  called  Regu- 
lators. When  they  took  up  arms  to  redress  their 
wrongs,  Tryon  marched  against  them  with  infantry, 
cavalry,  and  artillery  in  large  force.  At  Alamance, 
on  the  1 5th  of  May,  1771,  he  attacked  the  petition- 
ers when  they  were  unprepared.  With  his  well- 
served  cannon,  handled  by  sailors,  and  his  superior 
force,  he  scattered  the  Regulators  and  crushed  the 
whole  movement  with  great  barbarity,  hanging  a 
large  number  of  them. 


GOLDEN  HILL,   ALAMANCE,   BOSTON  MASSACRE.     273 

Tryon's  policy  so  pleased  his  superiors  in  Europe 
that  "  Bloody  Billy,"  as  the  colonists  called  him, 
was  transferred  to  New  York,  where  the  spirit  of  the 
people  had  always  held  in  check  the  arrogance  of 
the  royal  governors.  Tryon,  who  was  expected  to 
put  down  the  threatening  symptoms  of  dissatisfac- 
tion, began,  as  usual  with  New  York's  British  gov- 
ernors, to  engage  first  in  large  land  speculations. 
The  region  in  and  about  the  Mohawk  valley,  from 
which  at  least  six  counties  have  since  been  formed, 
was  named  Tryon  County.  With  the  aid  of  his 
handsome  wife  and  daughters,  who  had  great  social 
influence  on  Manhattan  Island,  and  by  his  alertness 
and  energy,  Tryon  was  able  to  retard  the  patriot 
movement  in  New  York. 

In  front  of  the  State  House  at  Boston,  the  Brit- 
ish soldiers  fired  upon  those  who  were  irritating 
them  by  calling  them  "  lobsters,"  on  account  of 
their  red  coats,  and  by  bandying  other  epithets. 
Three  men  were  killed,  including  Crispus  Attucks, 
a  mulatto  slave.  The  blood  crimsoning  the  white 
snow  was  never  forgotten  by  the  Boston  people,  and 
the  exact  spot  is  still  marked  by  a  circular  arrange- 
ment of  the  stones  in  the  granite  pavement.  The 
soldiers  were  defended  by  James  Otis  and  John 
Quincy.  They  were  all  acquitted  except  two,  who 
were  publicly  branded  for  manslaughter.  In  Rhode 
Island  the  people  seized  the  British  vessel,  the 


274      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Gaspec,  by  surprise  and  burned  her.  The  conflict 
in  the  colonial  Assemblies  between  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  and  the  royal  governors  became 
more  intensely  bitter. 

With  strange  and  fatuous  refusal  to  see  the  prin- 
ciple involved,  Parliament  attempted  to  soothe  the 
American  feeling  by  removing  all  the  taxes  except 
that  on  tea.  Yet  the  principle  was  the  same  for  a 
small  tax  as  for  a  large  one.  The  colonies  knew 
Dutch  and  English  history  too  well  to  allow  any 
tax  to  be  extorted  from  men  who  could  not  them- 
selves vote  on  the  expenditures,  or  be  represented 
in  the  voting  of  the  expenses  of  government. 

China  furnished  the  magic  leaf  which  dissolved 
the  bond  between  the  mother  country  and  her 
grown-up  child.  Parliament  in  1773  allowed  tea  to 
be  brought  to  America  and  sold  as  cheaply  as  in 
England,  while  the  tax  was  really,  but  not  appar- 
ently, to  be  paid.  Yet  all  this  foolish  legislation  was 
but  hammering  or  grinding  the  wedge  to  a  thinner 
edge,  in  order  to  drive  it  in  all  the  more  heavily 
when  once  inserted,  and  the  Americans  knew  it. 

When  the  tea-ships  which  came  from  Amoy, 
China, — where  the  local  pronunciation  of  the  Chi- 
nese word  cha  is,  as  we  have  received  and  pro- 
nounce it,  "  tea,"  —  the  people  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  North  Carolina  would  not  allow 
the  chests  to  be  landed,  but  sent  them  back.  In 


GOLDEN  HILL,  ALAMANCE,   BOSTON  MASSACRE.    27$ 

Maryland  the  owner  of  the  tea-ship  Peggy  Stewart 
set  fire  to  the  vessel  with  his  own  hand  and  burned 
it  up.  In  one  or  two  other  seaports  the  tea,  though 
put  ashore,  was  unbought  and  allowed  to  spoil 
through  dampness.  In  Boston  the  citizens  refused 
to  permit  the  chests  to  be  taken  off  the  ships,  but 
the  royal  officers  detained  the  vessels  in  the  harbor, 
so  that  on  the  twentieth  day,  according  to  rule,  they 
could  be  unloaded  by  the  custom-house  authorities. 
On  the  evening  before,  a  party  of  men  disguised  as 
Mohawk  Indians  boarded  the  tea-ships,  opened  the 
hatches,  and  tumbled  the  Chinese  herb  out  in  the 
water. 

Parliament  retaliated  for  the  Boston  Tea  Party's 
doings  by  passing  acts  which  shut  the  port,  stopped 
the  city's  trade,  and  changed  the  government  of 
Massachusetts  so  as  to  destroy  all  popular  power. 
Parliament  also  united  the  country  north  of  the 
Ohio  and  east  of  the  Mississippi  into  one  dominion, 
so  as  to  prevent  Americans  from  settling  in  the  con- 
quered territory  and  in  order  to  conciliate  the  French 
colonists  and  get  their  aid,  if  possible,  in  case  of 
war.  American  offenders  were  to  be  brought  to 
England  for  trial.  In  other  words,  no  justice  could 
be  obtained  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

After  law  had  been  thus  trampled  on  by  a  gov- 
ernment controlled  by  unscrupulous  money-makers, 
neither  order  nor  freedom  was  safe.  The  people 


2/6      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

had  to  look  on  while  Massachusetts  was  handed 
over  to  the  rule  of  General  Gage  and  his  soldiers. 
Yet,  since  all  the  colonies  sympathized  with  the 
Bay  State,  the  people  now  took  another  step  for- 
ward. Public  opinion  now  declared  that  not  only 
taxation,  but  legislation  without  representation,  must 
be  resisted  and,  if  necessary,  by  force.  In  a  word, 
the  glorious  precedent  of  the  law-abiding  Dutch- 
men in  the  federal  republic  founded  by  the  German 
prince,  William  of  Nassau,  the  apostle  of  toleration, 
was  followed  by  our  fathers. 

Americans,  who  have  been  foolishly  taught  to 
"hate  the  British,"  ought  never  to  forget  that  Par- 
liament at  this  time  represented  landed  property 
rather  than  the  people,  and  that  King  George  III. 
was  narrow  in  mind,  sluggish  in  thought,  obstinate, 
and  reactionary  in  principle.  Once  bent  on  a  course 
of  action,  he  could  not  be  easily  checked.  The  war 
against  the  American  colonies  was  so  unpopular  in 
Great  Britain,  that  even  the  big  bounties  offered 
failed  to  attract  volunteers  into  the  army  to  do  the 
"  King's  dirty  work  "  of  fighting  the  colonists,  who 
were  standing  on  their  rights.  The  British  people 
have  long  ago  acknowledged  the  folly  of  their  rulers, 
and  we  ought  to  know  this  and  honor  them  for  it. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

"  I    WILL    MAINTAIN." 

colonial  Assemblies  all  passed  resolutions 
condemning  Parliament  so  severely,  that  in 
nearly  every  case  the  governors  dissolved  them. 
Several  of  the  colonies  were  thus  left  without  any 
real  governor.  Connecticut  was  the  only  colony  in 
which  both  governor  and  people  formed  a  unit  in 
resisting  revolution  from  without.  In  this  Puritan 
democratic  commonwealth,  "  Brother  Jonathan " 
Trumbull  was  the  efficient  chief  magistrate. 

A  call  was  made  for  another  Congress,  which  met 
in  1774  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  pretty  little  building 
called  Carpenter's  Hall.  This  was  the  first  "  Con- 
tinental "  Congress,  because  made  up  of  delegates 
from  all  the  thirteen  colonies  on  the  continent. 
They  resolved  not  to  buy,  sell,  or  use  English 
goods,  and  to  support  Massachusetts  in  her  struggle. 
In  the  colonies,  since  the  people  and  the  royal 
governors  were  at  strife,  nobody  knew  whom  to 
obey.  Committees  of  safety  and  correspondence 
were  therefore  formed,  and  these  began  to  collect 
powder  and  ball,  provisions  and  military  supplies. 

277 


2/8       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

They  made  themselves  ready  to  maintain  their 
rights  should  the  King  of  Great  Britain  imitate 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  by  sending  his  own  troops  and 
foreign  mercenaries  to  support  usurpation,  and 
force  the  colonists  to  pay  taxes  which  they  never 
voted.  The  motto  of  William  the  Silent,  "  I  will 
maintain,"  now  became  that  of  thousands  of  men  in 
the  Middle  colonies,  who  reechoed  their  ancestral 
watchword. 

As  the  largest  British  force  was  in  the  Bay  State, 
it  seemed  probable  that  the  outbreak  must  be  there 
first.  So  the  people  of  Massachusetts  enrolled 
twelve  thousand  volunteers,  a  third  of  whom  were 
minutemen.  These  were  ready  to  leave  their  work 
and  go  to  fight  at  a  moment's  notice.  When  Gen- 
eral Gage  received  certain  information  that  powder 
and  ball,  guns  and  camp  equipage,  had  been  col- 
lected at  Concord,  twenty  miles  from  Boston,  he 
ordered  eight  hundred  men  to  march  out  to  destroy 
them.  Tryon,  in  North  Carolina,  had  set  him  an 
example  and  precedent  of  success,  which  he  was 
quick  to  follow. 

Now  came  the  question  to  the  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts as  to  what  should  be  done.  If  they  per- 
mitted the  destruction  of  their  property,  then  their 
conduct  would  mean  that  they  were  submissive  to 
the  acts  of  Parliament.  If  they  resisted  by  force, 
it  would  mean  war,  but  war  with  whom  ?  Not 


"/  WILL  MAINTAIN."  379 

against  the  king,  for  he  was  their  sovereign  and 
in  theory  all  law  centred  in  him  and  they  were  his 
subjects.  According  to  ancient  English  law,  the 
townsman  has  a  right  to  go  up  and  down  "the 
king's  highway  "  without  molestation,  provided  he 
conducts  himself  peaceably.  If  townsmen  should 
be  met  and  hindered  by  the  king's  troops  while  on 
the  highway,  and  the  king's  troops  should  fire  upon 
them  and  injure  them,  then  the  townsmen  would 
be  innocent.  The  king's  troops  would  be  the  ag- 
gressors, and  whoever  ordered  them  to  fire  would 
be  guilty  and  responsible. 

In  theory,  then,  and  exactly  as  next  day  they 
made  affidavit,  the  king's  subjects  stood  peaceably 
in  the  king's  highway,  when,  on  April  19,  just 
before  daybreak,  sixty  half-armed  "  minutemen " 
were  ranged  on  the  village  green  at  Lexington. 
Captain  Parker,  their  leader,  addressed  them  as  free- 
men standing  for  right  and  law,  saying,  "  Men,  stand 
your  ground ;  don't  fire  unless  fired  upon,  but  if 
they  mean  war,  let  it  begin  here."  Major  Pitcairn, 
coming  up  the  road  with  his  redcoats,  called  the 
townsmen  "  rebels,"  and  ordered  them  to  disperse. 
The  law-abiding  men  of  Lexington  stood  their 
ground.  Knowing  their  rights,  they  dared  to 
maintain  them. 

The  violator  of  English  law,  Major  Pitcairn,  dis- 
charged his  pistols  and  ordered  his  men  to  fire. 


280      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

The  volley  stretched  seven  or  eight  men,  citizens 
protecting  their  homes  and  rights,  dead  upon  the 
green.  War  was  definitely  begun.  Revolution 
had  been  introduced  from  without  by  the  act  of 
agents  of  the  king.  Henceforth  "  the  British  "  and 
"  the  Americans  "  were  to  be  two  different  peoples, 
even  though  legal  fictions  might  for  a  while  remain 
and  many  good  men  hope  and  pray  for  union. 

The  British  officers  expected  to  be  able  to  arrest 
two  prominent  men  whom  they  called  rebels.  One 
was  named  John  Hancock,  a  wealthy  merchant  of 
Boston  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  provisional 
government.  The  other  was  Samuel  Adams,  who 
had  been  very  active  in  organizing  committees  of 
safety  and  correspondence  and  who  had  kept  up 
the  agitation  against  parliamentary  and  royal  usur- 
pation. The  British  failed.  The  country  had  been 
alarmed  by  Paul  Revere,  a  patriot  living  in  Boston, 
who,  like  the  Faneuils,  Bowdoins,  Chardons,  Brim- 
mers, and  other  New  Englanders,  came  of  that 
splendid  Huguenot  stock  which  has  helped  to  make 
the  Boston  of  to-day  so  lovely. 

Leaving  Lexington,  the  British  troops  moved  on 
to  Concord,  destroying  the  military  stores  by  scat- 
tering the  powder,  throwing  the  cannon-balls  into 
the  wells,  and  breaking  up  the  wooden  spoons.  On 
returning,  at  Concord  bridge  they  met  the  "  em- 
battled farmers."  Both  parties  joined  in  war  upon 


"/  WILL  MAINTAIN."  28 1 

each  other,  and  the  Concord  men  "  fired  the  shot 
heard  round  the  world."  The  Americans  remained 
in  possession  of  the  bridge,  and  the  regulars  began 
their  retreat  to  Boston.  Now,  from  all  over  the 
country  rushed  the  minutemen  with  powder  horn, 
bullet  pouches,  and  muskets.  From  behind  stone 
walls,  trees,  and  bushes  they  fired  upon  those  they 
deemed  invaders  and  abettors  of  wrong.  There 
were  scores  of  little  skirmishes  at  the  spots  marked 
to-day  with  inscribed  stones. 

The  British  soldier  is  not  a  coward.  The  men 
in  red  coats  fought  bravely,  yet  the  retreat  grew 
faster  and  faster.  The  whole  force  might  have  been 
annihilated,  except  that  Lord  Percy  met  the  sur- 
vivors at  Lexington  with  reinforcements.  They  had 
artillery  by  which  to  keep  the  Americans  at  a  dis- 
tance, yet  before  they  got  back  to  Boston  probably 
three  hundred  of  the  British  infantry  were  killed 
or  wounded. 

General  Gage's  army  was  now  shut  up  in  Boston, 
for  the  militia,  arriving  daily  from  New  Hampshire 
and  Connecticut,  as  well  as  from  Massachusetts, 
surrounded  the  city  and  kept  it  in  a  state  of  siege. 

According  to  the  prevalent  fictions  of  law,  the 
Americans  had  fought  their  battles  in  the  name  of 
King  George  against  the  attempt  of  Parliament  to 
govern  them  illegally.  There  was  still  no  definite 
idea  of  separation  from  the  mother  country.  The 


282       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

royal  officers,  governors,  judges,  tax-collectors,  etc., 
fled  and  took  refuge  among  the  British  garrisons  or 
on  ships  of  war.  The  colonial  governments  were 
broken  up,  but  provincial  congresses  carried  on 
political  business  and  maintained  order. 

The  second  Continental  Congress,  which  met  in 
Philadelphia,  was  made  up  of  the  ablest  men  from 
the  colonies.  Some  of  these  were  John  Adams, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  John  Hancock  of  Massachu- 
setts;  John  Jay  of  New  York;  Robert  Morris  and 
Benjamin  Franklin  from  Pennsylvania;  Patrick 
Henry,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  George  Washington 
from  Virginia.  These  were  specimens  of  manhood 
grown  in  the  colonies,  and  besides  these  were  many 
more  men  in  the  prime  of  life  and  of  distinguished 
ability,  well  read  in  the  precedents  of  Dutch  law 
and  independence,  in  More  and  Harrington,  in  the 
literature  of  the  English  commonwealth,  and  the 
Revolution  of  1688,  as  well  as  in  the  ancient  law  of 
England  and  the  classic  and  Biblical  story  of  the 
rise  and  development  of  nations. 

This  Congress  declared  the  militia  gathered 
around  Boston  to  be  a  Continental  army,  and  ap- 
pointed Washington  commander-in-chief.  Decision 
was  also  made,  by  the  act  of  December  22,  1775, 
to  begin  a  navy,  and  soon  the  shipyards  at  Ken- 
sington had  the  keels  laid  of  war-vessels,  which 
were  built  by  the  "  free  Quaker "  brothers,  Manuel 


"7   WILL   MAINTAIN," 


283 


and  Jehu  Eyre,  afterwards  officers  in  the  Conti- 
nental army.  These  ships  were  named  by  John 
Adams,  after  three  Italians,  the  Columbus,  Cabot, 
and  Andrea  Doria ;  the  Saxon  King  Alfred;  and 
in  reliance  upon.  Divine  favor,  Providence.  Thus 
the  initial  ships  of  our  gallant  navy  recalled  appro- 
priately the  names  of  the  two  navigators  who  be- 
gan the  romance  of  discovery  in  America;  the  ruler 
around  whom  our  noblest  ancestral  traditions  cling; 
the  high-minded  Italian,  generous  and  just,  who, 
even  after  conquering  the  city  of  Genoa,  allowed 
the  people  to  maintain  a  republic  and  to  make  their 
own  laws ;  and  that  Divine  government  wherein 
even  a  sparrow's  fall  is  not  too  minute  to  be  noted. 
To  begin  armed  resistance  against  Parliament,  in 
the  name  of  King  George  of  Great  Britain,  was  to 
do  exactly  what  the  Dutch  did  when  they  made 
war,  in  the  name  of  Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain 
and  Count  of  Holland,  against  the  Duke  of  Alva 
and  other  servants  of  the  Spanish  monarch.  It 
was  exactly  what  Cromwell  and  the  parliamentary 
party  did  during  the  English  Civil  War,  when  they 
issued  commissions  in  the  name  of  the  very  king, 
Charles  II.,  against  whom  they  were  fighting.  It 
is  practically  the  same  theory  of  law,  when  it  is 
understood  that  one  cannot  begin  suit  against  the 
state,  or  sovereign  power,  but  only  against  the 
servants  of  the  state. 


284       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  were  full  of  muni- 
tions of  war.  In  Vermont,  Ethan  Allen,  a  Connect- 
icut man,  assisted  by  the  Dutch  officer  Colonel 
Bernard  Romans,  laid  a  plan  to  capture  the  forts. 
In  the  employ  of  British  government,  this  Euro- 
pean engineer  had  explored  and  surveyed  Florida, 
but  had  resigned  his  commission  and  taken  up  the 
American  cause.  Surprising  the  sentinels,  Allen 
rushed  into  the  British  commander's  room  at  Ticon- 
deroga and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  fortress. 
This  was  quickly  granted.  Within  twenty-four 
hours,  Crown  Point  was  also  taken.  Cannon,  arms, 
lead,  and  powder  were  transported,  on  sledges  and 
otherwise,  to  Boston,  where  they  were  most  needed. 
For  permanent  supplies,  the  Americans  relied  upon 
the  captures  made  by  privateers.  Until  1780,  they 
obtained  in  best  quality  and  greatest  quantity 
what  the  army  most  needed  from  the  Dutch  at 
St.  Eustatius  Island  in  the  West  Indies.  Most  of 
the  "hardware"  and  "grain,"  that  is,  cannon  and 
powder,  with  arms  and  clothing,  were  made  in  Eng- 
land and  sold  by  English  merchants  to  Hollanders, 
who  sent  them  to  America  to  be  exchanged  for 
tobacco,  and  the  French  and  Dutch  silver  and  gold 
borrowed  by  Congress. 

Washington  set  out  for  Cambridge,  but  before 
he  arrived  the  Americans  seized  Bunker  Hill,  in 
order  to  build  a  redoubt  by  which  they  could  mount 


"/  WILL   MAINTAIN."  285 

cannon  and  fire  into  Boston.  They  went  still 
nearer  and  fortified  Breed's  Hill,  where  now  the 
battle  monument  stands.  The  village  of  Charles- 
town  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  the  edge  of  the 
water.  At  that  time  Boston  was  situated  on  a  little 
peninsula,  most  of  it  north  and  east  of  the  State  House 
on  Beacon  Hill.  All  around  was  water  except  the 
narrow  neck  which  united  the  city  to  the  mainland 
where  Roxbury  and  Dorchester  lay. 

When  Gage  the  next  morning  saw  what  was 
being  done,  he  ordered  the  British  ships  — some  of 
them  lying  where  is  now  the  solid  ground  of  Com- 
monwealth Avenue  —  to  go  near  and  bombard  the 
Americans.  He  sent  three  thousand  men  in  boats, 
who  embarked  where  the  Providence  station  and 
the  Public  Gardens  are  to-day,  and  they  landed  in 
Charlestown  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  They  first  ate 
their  lunch  leisurely  and  comfortably  before  the 
eyes  of  the  hungry  and  tired  patriots,  who  looked 
at  them  from  behind  their  rude  earthworks.  The 
British  troops  then  got  ready  to  advance,  as  they 
supposed,  to  easy  victory.  They  were  not  even  sure 
whether  or  not  "the  Yankees  would  fight."  The 
Americans  were  commanded  by  Colonel  Prescott, 
aided  by  General  Putnam  and  General  Warren,  and 
numbered  fifteen  hundred  men.  Instead  of  bush- 
whacking, skirmishing,  and  firing  from  behind  trees 
and  walls,  this  was  to  be  a  battle  in  force.  The 


286       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN   COLONIZATION. 

ever-brave  British  soldier,  with  his  bull-dog  courage 
and  tenacity,  was  not  likely  to  give  up  easily. 

The  result  showed  not  only  that  the  Yankees 
would  fight,  but  that  they  were  able  to  control 
themselves  and  hold  their  fire  until  they  could  see 
the  whites  of  their  enemies'  eyes  and  count  the 
fifth  button  on  each  red  coat.  Then  a  sheet  of 
flame  broke  from  the  breastworks.  The  British 
ranks  were  broken  ;  their  breast  buttons  were  towards 
Boston,  and  their  backs  towards  the  redoubt. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  the  brave  men  were  re- 
formed. Again  they  charged,  only  to  be  once  more 
driven  back.  At  the  third  onset,  having  galled  the 
Americans  on  the  flanks  by  means  of  their  artillery, 
the  British  were  successful  and  entered  the  redoubt. 
The  colonials  having  no  more  bullets  or  powder, 
and  unable  to  keep  up  the  hand-to-hand  fight, 
retreated  slowly  over  toward  Cambridge.  The 
British  losses  were  one  thousand  and  fifty-four,  the 
American  four  hundred  and  forty-nine.  Charles- 
town  village  was  burned  and  General  Warren 
killed.  Prescott  wished  to  recapture  the  hill,  and 
declared  that  if  he  had  had  three  regiments  with 
bayonets  he  could  do  so ;  but  no  attempts  were 
made  to  drive  out  the  garrison,  who  with  true 
British  pluck,  as  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  had 
persevered,  accomplishing  what  they  had  set  out  to 
do.  One  incident  will  show  how  little  thought 


"/  WILL  MAINTAIN."  2&7 

there  was  of  separating  from  Great  Britain.  When 
General  Putnam's  regiment  in  Connecticut  was 
drawn  up  in  line  on  Cambridge  Common,  before 
going  into  battle,  Chaplain  Abiel  Leonard  offered 
prayer  to  Almighty  God.  This  is  part  of  his  peti- 
tion :  — 

^  "  And  grant,  O  Lord,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Great  Britain  may  arise  and  vindicate  their  liber- 
ties; and  that  a  glorious  reunion  may  take  place 
between  them  and  Thy  people  in  this  land  founded 
upon  the  principles  of  liberty  and  righteousness; 
that  the  Britons  and  the  Americans  may  rejoice  in 
the  king  as  the  minister  of  God  to  both  for  good." 

Even  six  months  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill, 
Philip  Freneau,  the  Huguenot  poet  of  New  York, 
wrote  a  poem  of  which  the  closing  stanza  was  :  — 

"  Long  may  Britannia  rule  our  hearts  again, 
Rule  as  she  ruled  in  George  the  Second's  reign. 
May  ages  hence  her  growing  grandeur  see, 
And  she  be  glorious,  but  ourselves  as  free." 

In  fact,  the  American  Revolution,  like  the  Dutch 
War  of  Independence,  was  not  begun  to  obtain  utter 
separation,  but  to  maintain  charter  rights.  Amer- 
icans as  English  subjects,  whether  by  descent  or 
under  law,  vindicated  their  birthright  which  the 
British  government  wickedly  denied  them. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

JULY    4,     1776,    AND    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF 
AMERICA. 

WASHINGTON  arrived  in  Cambridge  early  in 
June,  1775.  He  found  an  agglomeration  of 
about  fifteen  thousand  men,  armed  with  all  sorts  of 
guns  and  weapons.  They  were  raw  militia,  poorly 
clothed  and  not  very  willing  to  submit  to  military 
discipline.  There  was  no  uniformity  in  dress. 
Most  of  the  men  wore  common  tow  hunting-shirts, 
usually  dyed  brown.  The  officers,  who  could  afford 
a  suit,  wore  blue  cloth  with  buff  trimmings,  which 
afterwards  became  the  uniform  of  the  Continentals 
or  regular  American  troops.  Washington  worked 
very  hard  to  organize  something  like  an  army. 

When  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  it  became  per- 
fectly certain  that  King  George  III.  was  entirely  on 
the  side  of  Parliament  and  joined  with  them  in 
injustice,  the  desire  grew  stronger  for  separation 
and  freedom.  New  colonial  governments  had  been 
formed  after  the  king's  governors  and  judges  had 
run  away.  The  people  now  felt  that  the  colonies 
were  true  states  and  able  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

288 


JULY  4,   1776,  AND    UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.      289 

When,  on  January  i,  1776,  the  king's  proclamation 
was  read  in  the  American  camp  and  it  was  found 
that,  instead  of  listening  to  their  humble  and  loyal 
petition  for  justice,  he  had  called  them  "  rebels  "  and 
tried  to  hire  Russian  and  Dutch  soldiers  to  subdue 
them,  and,  failing  in  that,  had  secured  nearly  thirty 
thousand  Hessians  to  do  his  work,  the  Americans 
saw  there  was  no  hope  of  reconciliation. 

There  was  no  regular  flag,  but  rather  a  variety  of 
emblems,  such  as  the  pine  tree  of  Massachusetts 
and  the  grape  vine  of  Connecticut.  As  almost  all 
the  military  words  for  arms,  command,  or  discipline, 
such  as  "tattoo,"  "tug  of  war,"  "forlorn  hope," 
"  body-guard,"  "  knapsack,"  "  haversack,"  and  "  flag," 
were  of  Dutch  origin,  borrowed  or  corrupted,  from 
the  days  when  Irish,  Scotch,  Welsh,  and  English- 
men fought  shoulder  to  shoulder  for  freedom  in  the 
Netherlands,  so  also  the  union  flag  of  the  united 
colonies  was  like  that  of  the  old  Dutch  naval  flag 
of  red  and  white  stripes,  one  for  each  colony,  with 
the  double  cross  of  St.  George  and  St.  Andrew 
to  represent  Great  Britain.  On  January  i,  1776, 
this  union  flag  was  raised  over  the  American  en- 
trenchments and  saluted  with  thirteen  guns.  The 
"  stars  and  stripes  "  were  unknown  until  long  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Washington  held  this  army  together  during  the 
winter,  when,  as  Congress  learned  that  the  Cana- 


2QO      THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

dian  British  were  preparing  to  march  down  from 
northern  New  York,  General  Montgomery  was  sent 
to  take  Quebec.  Marching  by  the  Lake  Champlain 
way,  he  captured  Montreal.  Benedict  Arnold,  of 
Connecticut,  selected  a  route,  of  which  Sir  William 
Johnson  had  told  him,  through  the  Kennebec  valley 
and  the  forests  of  Maine.  His  men  suffered  terri- 
bly, and  many  deserted.  Arnold  and  Montgomery 
joined  forces,  and  in  December  they  tried  to  storm 
Quebec.  Montgomery  was  killed,  Arnold  was  badly 
wounded,  and  the  Americans  were  soon  driven  out 
of  the  province.  Thus  Washington's  plan  of  get- 
ting the  Canadians  to  join  with  the  other  colonies 
failed,  and  Canada,  with  its  mixed  French  and  Brit- 
ish people,  remained  a  province  of  the  crown,  to 
which  the  refugees,  Tories  and  Loyalists,  could  fly. 

Early  in  the  spring  Washington  seized  Dorches- 
ter Heights,  and  had  them  fortified  before  General 
Gage  could  prevent  him.  This  compelled  the  evac- 
uation of  the  city.  On  the  lyth  of  March,  the 
British  troops,  with  many  Tories  and  Loyalists, 
sailed  away  to  Halifax.  Then  Washington  and  the 
Continentals  entered  the  city  in  triumph. 

All  this  time  the  colonists  were  fighting  in  the 
name  of  British  law  and  freedom  against  the  illegal 
claims  of  Parliament.  As  the  king  was  a  represen- 
tative of  all  law  and  history,  they  had  risen  in  armed 
resistance  against  his  servants,  but  in  his  name. 


JULY  4,   1776,   AXD    UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.     2QI 

In  England  thousands  of  persons  and  many  able 
men  believed  that  the  Americans  were  true  to  law, 
and  that  in  fighting  f6r  the  right  of  taxation  by  their 
own  Assemblies,  they  were  doing  just  what  English- 
men had  done  twice  before  under  the  Stuarts.  The 
Continental  Congress  in  issuing  their  declaration  of 
rights  October  14,  1774,  wrote,  that  since  they  "can- 
not be  properly  represented  in  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, they  are  entitled  to  a  free  and  exclusive  power 
of  legislation  in  their  several  provincial  legislatures." 
They  petitioned  the  king  October  26,  1774,  address- 
ing him  as  "  the  loving  father  "  of  his  "  whole  people," 
and  beseeching  him  to  hear  their  complaints  and 
redress  their  wrongs. 

When,  however,  Parliament  heard  of  the  siege  of 
Boston,  there  was  an  angry  feeling  in  Great  Britain, 
and  the  Americans  were  declared  rebels.  The  gov- 
ernment at  London  made  application  to  Queen 
Catherine  at  St.  Petersburg  for  the  hire  of  twenty 
thousand  Russian  soldiers  to  fight  the  Americans, 
but  the  great  sovereign  of  the  Russians  refused  to 
have  one  of  her  soldiers  fight  for  King  George 
against  the  colonists.  Thus  began  the  first  of  many 
kindnesses  which  have  always  made  Americans  feel 
grateful  and  friendly  to  Russia. 

Then  King  George  applied  to  the  republic  of 
the  United  Netherlands  for  Dutch  troops,  but  the 
Netherlanders,  being  republicans,  sympathized  with 


2Q2       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

the  Americans  and  refused  a  single  man.  On  the 
contrary,  Dutch  officers  crossed  the  ocean  to  serve  in 
the  American  cause.  The  Dutch  saw  that  exactly 
as  their  own  ancestors  did,  so  the  Americans  were 
doing  in  resisting  injustice  and  wicked  taxation. 
All  through  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  Dutch 
sympathies  were  very  warm  in  behalf  of  our  fathers. 
A  body  of  Scotch  troops,  forming  the  Scotch  Bri- 
gade, who  had  long  served  the  Dutch  republic,  was 
required  by  King  George,  who  sent  an  autograph 
letter  to  his  relative,  the  stadholder,  requesting 
their  return  to  England.  The  Prince  of  Orange  at 
this  time  was  William  V.,  who,  for  aping  the  ways 
of  British  monarchs  in  a  republic,  was  later  driven 
out  of  the  country,  as  James  II.  had  been  out  of 
England.  The  request  of  King  George  was  bitterly 
opposed  in  the  Dutch  Congress  by  Baron  Van  der 
Capellen  and  other  political  opponents  of  the  stad- 
holder and  by  friends  of  the  Americans.  In  the 
West  Indies,  the  Dutch  governor  Johannes  de  Graaf 
showed  open  sympathy  with  our  fathers.  On  the  1 6th 
of  November,  1 776,  he  ordered  the  first  foreign  salute 
fired  to  the  flag  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
King  George  at  last  secured  about  thirty  thousand 
Hessians  to  do  his  vile  work  in  America. 

Since  the  British  ships  captured  all  American 
vessels  they  could  find,  and  treated  their  crews  with 
great  cruelty,  the  people  of  the  colonies,  slowly  but 


JULY  4,   1776,   AND    UNITED  STATES   OF  AMERICA.     293 

surely,  became  united  in  a  desire  for  independence. 
Indeed,  they  soon  began  to  feel  that  they  would 
obtain  it  if  they  should  fight  for  it. 

There  was  also  great  sympathy  with  the  American 
cause  in  France  and  Germany.  Besides  Lafayette, 
the  Frenchman ;  De  Kalb  and  Steuben,  Germans ; 
Kosciusko  and  Pulaski,  Poles ;  Romans  and  Dirck, 
Dutchmen,  —  there  were  other  European  officers 
who  crossed  the  ocean  to  help  our  fathers. 

In  Philadelphia  there  was  an  Englishman,  Thomas 
Paine,  who  had  emigrated  from  the  eastern  counties 
where  nonconformity  had  always  been  so  strong, 
whence  most  of  the  emigrants  to  New  England  had 
come  and  in  which  the  parliamentary  armies  had 
been  mostly  raised.  Paine  was  a  literary  man,  editor, 
and  clerk  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  and  all  his 
life  an  unselfish  champion  of  the  rights  of  man.  He 
wrote  a  pamphlet  called  "  Common  Sense,"  in  which 
he  declared  that  the  time  had  come  for  a  final  sepa- 
ration from  England,  and  that  arms  must  decide  the 
contest.  This  Httle  pamphlet  voiced  the  sentiment 
of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  people  who 
were  thinking  the  same  thoughts.  It  was  the  most 
widely  circulated  and  most  generally  read  document 
yet  printed  in  America. 

When   the   Continental   Congress  met   a^iin    in 
Philadelphia  in  June,  1776,  it  was  no  longer  on 
colonies  only.     Some  of  these  had  already  become 


294       THE  ROMANCE    OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION. 

states.  In  North  Carolina,  as  we  read  on  the  state 
seal  to-day,  the  people  of  Mecklenburg  County,  mostly 
Scotch-Irish,  had,  on  May  30,  1775,  declared  their 
independence,  and  on  April  12,  1776,  the  pro- 
vincial Congress  instructed  their  delegates  to  Phila- 
delphia to  vote  for  separation  from  Great  Britain. 
The  motion  to  become  a  nation  came  from  the 
oldest  of  the  colonies,  and  the  seconding  from  the 
next  in  age  and  dignity.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of 
Virginia,  offered  a  resolution  that  "  these  united 
colonies  are  and  of  right  ought  to  be  free  and  in- 
dependent states."  John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts, 
seconded  the  resolution. 

The  committee  of  five  to  prepare  the  declaration 
consisted  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Benja- 
min Franklin,  Roger  Sherman,  and  Robert  Living- 
ston. The  document  was  the  work  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  was  written  by  him  in  a  house  on 
the  corner  of  Seventh  and  Market  streets.  After 
being  debated  in  the  State  House,  in  the  room  now 
called  Independence  Hall,  it  was  signed  on  the  4th  of 
July  by  John  Hancock,  president  of  the  Congress. 
It  was  read  in  Independence  Square  to  the  people, 
from  a  timber  stand  or  observatory  which  had  been 
erected  for  Rittenhouse  to  observe  the  transit  of 
Venus,  which  took  place  on  June  3,  1769.  In  the 
view  of  the  world  a  new  luminary  was  passing 
across  the  great  disc  of  history  on  July  4,  1776. 


JULY  4,   1776,   AND    UNITED  STATES   OF  AMERICA.       295 

Then  the  "old  liberty  bell"  was  rung  in  the 
State  House.  In  Massachusetts  the  name  of  the 
town  with  the  highest  altitude  in  the  state  was 
changed  from  "  Gage  "  to  "  Washington."  In  New 
York  city  the  people  tore  down  the  leaden  statue 
of  King  George  and  melted  the  lead  into  bullets. 
The  name  of  Tryon  County  was  changed  to  that 
of  Montgomery.  Later  divisions  were  called  after 
Americans,  -  -  Herkimer,  Madison,  Fulton,  and 
Hamilton. 

When  the  representatives  of  the  thirteen  colonies 
added  their  names  to  the  immortal  Declaration,  the 
work  of  severance,  preparatory  to  a  "  more  perfect 
union  "  of  the  "  people  of  the  United  States,"  was 
done.  Our  nation  came  into  existence  and  the 
colonial  era  of  our  history  was  over.  Like  the 
Dutch  republic,  our  thirteen  states,  protesting 
against  illegal  taxation,  first  formed  a  federal 
union,  keeping  up  government  in  the  name  of  the 
king,  and  then,  in  the  month  of  July,  declared 
themselves  independent  and  entered  as  a  sovereign 
nation  upon  the  war  which  resulted  in  freedom  under 
law.  Our  country  borrowed  most  of  her  political 
precedents  from  the  free  republic  of  the  Netherlands 
while  reinforcing  and  safeguarding  the  organism 
with  the  noblest  British  precedents.  The  romance 
of  American  colonization  had  become  the  reality  of 
the  United  States  of  America. 


W.  A.  Wilde  &>  C«.,  Publiihers. 


War  of  the  Revolution  Series. 

By  Everett  T.  Tomlinson. 

CT*HREE  COLONIAL  BOYS.     A  Story  of  the  Times 

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manly  boys,  and  no  objectionable  language  or  character  is  introduced.  The  lesson*  of 
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rHREE   YOUNG  CONTINENTALS.     A    Story   of 
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This  story  is  historically  true.  It  is  the  best  kind  of  a  story  either  for  boys  or  girU, 
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TJYASHINGTON'S  YOUNG  AIDS.     A  Story  of  the 
rr         New  Jersey  Campaign,  1776-1777.     391  pp.     Cloth,  $\. 50. 

The  book  has  enough  history  and  description  to  give  value  to  the  story  which  ought 
to  captivate  emerpri>ing  boys.  —  Quarterly  Book  Review. 

The  historical  details  of  the  ,-tory  are  taken  from  old  records.  These  include 
accounts  of  the  life  on  the  pnson  shins  and  prison  houses  of  New  York,  the  raids  of  the 
pine  robbers,  the  tempting  of  the  Hessians,  the  end  of  Kagan  and  his  band,  etc.  — 
Publisher's  Weekly. 

Few  boys'  stories  of  this  class  show  so  close  a  study  of  history  combined  with  such 
genial  story-telling  power.  —  The  Outlook. 

rWO    \OUNG  PATRIOTS.     A  Story  of  Burgoyne's 
Invasion.     366pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

The  crucial  campaign  in  the  American  struggle  for  independence  came  in  (he  »um- 
mer  of  1777,  when  (len.  John  Burgoyne  marched  from  Canada  to  cut  the  rebellious 
colonies  asunder  and  join  another  British  army  which  was  to  proceed  up  the  valley  of 
the  Hudson.  The  American  forces  were  brave,  hard  fighters,  and  they  worried  and 
harassed  the  British  and  finally  defeated  them.  The  history  of  this  campaign  is  one 
of  great  interest  and  is  well  brought  out  in  the  part  which  (he  "  two  young  patriot*" 
took  in  the  events  which  led  up  to  the  surrender  of  fieneral  Burg"yne  and  hi*  army. 

The  set  of  four  volumes  in  a  box,  $6.00. 


SUCCESS.     BY   ORISON    SWKTT    MARDEN.     Author  of 

O  "Pushing  to  the  Fiont,"  "Architects  of  Fate,"  etc.  317  pp. 
Cloth,  $1.25. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  success  books  for  the  young  h^vc  .ippc.ircd  in  modern 
times  which  are  so  thoroughly  packed  from  lid  to  lid  with  stimulating,  uplifting,  and  in- 
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dry  paragraph  nor  a  single  line  of  useless  moralizing  in  any  •  •(  liU  li-<-k» 

To  stimulate,  inspire,  and  guide  is  the  mission  of  his  latest  book.  "  Soccewt  and 
helpfulness  is  iis  keynote.  I  is  object  is  to  spur  the  perplexed  youth  to  act  the  Ctilumbu* 
to  his  own  undiscovered  possibilities  :  to  urge  him  not  (o  wait  (or  great  opportunities, 
but  to  seize  common  occasions  and  make  them  gre.il,  for  he  cannot  tell  when  fate  may 
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W.  A.   Wilde  <Sr-  Co.,  Ho>ton  and  CHitagO. 


W.  A.  Wilde  &>  Co.,  Publishers. 


Brain  and  Brawn  Series. 

By  William  Drysdale. 

rHE   YOUNG  REPORl^ER.     A    Story   of    Printing 
House  Square.     300  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

I  commend  the  book  unreservedly.  —  Golden  Rule. 

"  The  Young  Reporter  "  is  a  rattling  book  for  boys.  — Ne^u  York  Recorder. 

The  best  boys'  book  I  ever  read.  —  Kir.  Phillips,  Critic  fur  New  York  Times. 

rHE  FAST  MAIL.     A  Story  of  a  Train  Boy.    328  pp. 
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season.  Perhaps  there  could  be  no  better  confirmation  of  this  assertion  than  the  fact 
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ume, and  are  anxious  to  know  how  soon  they  are  to  get  a  sequel.  —  The  Art  Amateur, 
New  York. 

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Service.     318  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

The  style  of  narrative  is  excellent,  the  lesson  inculcated  of  the  best,  and,  above  all, 
the  boys  and  girls  are  real.  — Neiv  York  Times. 

A  book  of  adventure  and  daring,  which  should  delight  as  well  as  stimulate  to  higher 
ideals  of  life  every  boy  who  is  so  happy  as  to  possess  it.  — •  Examiner. 

It  is  a  strong  book  for  boys  and  young  men.  —  Buffalo  Commercial. 

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Merchant  Marine.     352  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

Kit  Silburn  is  a  real  "  Brain  and  Brawn  "  boy,  full  of  sense  and  grit  and  sound 
good  qualities.  Determined  to  make  his  way  in  life,  and  with  no  influential  friends  to 
give  him  a  start,  he  does  a  deal  of  hard  work  between  the  evening  when  he  first  meets 
the  sianch  Captain  Griffith,  and  the  proud  day  when  he  becomes  purser  of  a  great 
ocean  steamship.  His  sea  adventures  are  mostly  on  shore;  but  whether  he  is  cleaning 
the  cabin  of  the  North  Cape,  or  landing  cargo  in  Yucatan,  or  hurrying  the  spongers 
and  fruitmen  of  Nassau,  or  exploring  London,  or  sight  seeing  with  a  disguised  prince 
in  Marseilles,  he  is  always  the  same  busy,  thoroughgoing,  manly  Kit.  Whether  or  not 
he  has  a  father  alive  is  a  question  of  deep  interest  throughout  the  story ;  but  that  he 
has  a  loving  and  loyal  sister  is  plain  from  the  start. 

The  set  of  four  volumes  in  a  box,  $6.00. 


&ERAPH,    THE    LITTLE    VIOLINISTS.     BY  MRS. 
O     C,  V.  JAMIESON.     300  pp.     Cloth,  fi. 50. 

The  scene  of  the  story  is  the  French  quarter  of  New  Orleans,  and  charming  bits  of 
local  color  add  to  its  attractiveness.  —  The  Boston  Journal. 

Perhaps  the  most  charming  story  she  has  ever  written  is  that  which  describes  Seraph, 
the  little  violiniste.  • —  Transcript,  Boston. 

W.  A.  Wild;  6"  Cc.,  Boston  and  Chicago. 


.  A.  Wilde  &  Co.,  Publishers. 


Travel=Adventure  Series. 

JN  WILD  AFRICA.    Adventures  of  Two  Boys  in  the 

A        a,  ^esert>  etc-  Bv  THOS-  w-  KNOX-   325  PP-  cioth  ti  « 

A  story  of  absorbing  interest.  -  Boston  Journal. 

Our  young  people  will  pronounce  it  unusually  good.  -Albany  Arru,. 

UN.  Knox  has  struck  a  popular  note  in  his  latest  volume.  —  SfringAtld  Rt^Mican. 


LAND  OF  THE  KANGAROO.  BY  THOS. 
W.  KNOX.  Adventures  of  Two  Boys  in  the  Great  Island  Con. 
tinent.  318  pp.  Cloth,  $1.50. 

p°"s"  natural  hutory  and  bo(any  of 


needs  no  gloss  to  add  to  itsabsorbii 

f\VER    THE   ANDES;   or,  Our  Boys  in   New  South 
L/     America.    BY    HEZEKIAH    BUTTERWORTH.      368  pp.      Cloth, 

$1.50. 

No  writer  of  the  present  century  has  done  more  and  better  service  than  Hexekiah 
Butterworth  in  the  production  of  helpful  literature  for  the  young.  In  this  volume  he 
writes,  in  his  own  fascinating  way,  of  a  country  too  little  known  by  American  readers.  - 
Christian  Work. 

Mr.  Buiterworth  is  careful  of  his  historic  facts,  and  then  he  charmingly  interweave* 
his  quaint  stories,  legends,  and  patriotic  adventures  as  few  writers  can.  —  Chicago  Inttr- 
Ocean 

The  subject  is  an  inspiring  one,  and  Mr.  butterworth  has  done  full  justice  to  the 
high  ideals  which  have  inspired  the  men  of  South  America.  —  Religious  Teleaoft. 

T  OST  IN  NICARAGUA  ;  or,  The  Lands  of  the  Great 
X— /    Canal.    BY  HEZEKIAH  BUTTERWORTH.   295  pp.    Cloth,  $1.50. 

The  book  pictures  the  wonderful  land  of  Nicaragua  and  continues  the  story  of  the 
travelers  whose  adventures  in  South  America  are  related  in  "  Over  the  Andes."  In  this 
companion  book  to  "  Over  the  Andes,"  one  of  the  boy  travelers  who  goes  into  the 
Nicaraguan  forests  in  search  of  a  quetzal,  or  the  royal  bird  of  the  Aztecs,  fall*  into  in 
ancient  idol  cave,  and  is  rescued  in  a  remarkable  way  by  an  old  Mosquito  Indian.  The 
narrative  is  told  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  ancient  legends  of  Guatemala,  the  dory  of 
the  chieftain,  Nicaragua,  the  history  of  the  Central  American  Republics,  and  the  natural 
history  of  the  wonderlands  of  the  ocelot,  the  conger,  parrots,  and  monkeys. 

Since  the  voyage  of  the  Oregon,  of  13,000  miles  to  reach  Key  West  the  American 
people  have  seen  what  would  be  the  value  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  The  book  give*  the 
history  of  the  projects  for  the  canal,  and  facts  about  Central  America,  and  a  put  ol  it 
was  written  in  Costa  Rica.  It  enters  a  new  field. 

The  set  of  four  volumes  in  a  box,  $6.00. 


QUARTERDECK     AND     FOK'SLE.     BY    MOLLY 

ojy     ELLIOTT  SEAWELL.     272  pp.     Cloth,  $i. 25. 

Miss  Seawell  has  done  a  notable  work  for  the  young^  people  of  our  country  In  her 
excellent  stories  of  naval  exploits.  They  are  of  the  kind  thai  cau*et  the  reader.  BO 
matter  whether  young  or  old,  to  thrill  witn  pride  and  patriotism  at  the  deed*  ol  daring 
of  the  heroes  of  our  navy. 

W.  A.  Wilde  &  Co*  Boston  and  Ckieagt. 

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//'.  A.  Wilde  &  Co.,  Publishers. 


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Fighting  for  the  Flag  Series. 

By  Chas.  Ledyard  Norton. 

'ACK  BENSON'S  LOG ;  or,  Afloat  with  the  Flag  in 
61.     281  pp.     Cloth,  #1.25. 

An  unusually  interesting  historical  story,  and  one  that  will  arouse  the  loyal  impulses 
of  every  American  boy  and  girl.  The  story  is  distinctly  superior  to  anything  ever 
attempted  along  this  line  before.  —  The  Independent. 

A  story  that  will  arouse  the  loyal  impulses  of  every  American  boy  and  girl.  —  Tlie 
Press. 

MEDAL   OF  HONOR  MAN;  or,  Cruising  Among 

Blockade  Runners.     280  pp.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

A  bright,  breezy  sequel  to  "  Jack  Benson's  Log."  The  book  has  unusual  literary 
excellence.  —  The  Book  Buyer,  New  York. 

A  stirring  story  for  boys.  —  The  Journal,  Indianapolis. 

Tl/TIDSHIPMAN  JACK.     290  pp.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

-*•  '-*•  Jack  is  a  delightful  hero,  and  the  author  has  made  his  experiences  and  ad- 
ventures seem  very  real.  —  Congregationalist. 

It  is  true  historically  and  full  of  exciting  war  scenes  and  adventures.  —  Outlook. 

A  stirring  story  of  naval  service  in  the  Confederate  waters  during  the  late  war.  — 
Presbyterian. 

The  set  of  three  volumes  in  a  box,  $3.75. 


GIRL  OF  '76.    BY  AMY  E.   BLANCHARD.    331    pp. 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

"  A  Girl  of  '76  "  lays  its  scene  in  and  around  Boston  where  the  principal  events  of 
the  early  period  of  the  Revolution  were  enacted.  Elizabeth  Hall,  the  heroine,  is  the 
daughter  of  a  patriot  who  is  active  in  the  defense  of  his  country.  The  story  opens  with 
a  scene  in  Charlestown,  where  Elizabeth  Hall  and  her  parents  live.  The  emptying  of 
the  tea  in  Boston  Harbor  is  the  means  of  giving  the  little  girl  her  first  strong  impression 
as  to  the  seriousness  of  her  father's  opinions,  and  causes  a  quarrel  between  herself  and 
her  schoolmate  and  playfellow,  Amos  Dwight. 

SOLDIER    OF  THE   LEGION.     BY  CHAS.  LED- 
YARD NORTON.     300  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 


W.  A.   Wilde  &°  Co.,  Boston  and  Chicago. 

4 


W.  A.  Wilde  <5r>  Co.,  Publishers. 


rHE  ORCUTT  GIRLS;  or,  One  Term  at  tht  A^.iemy. 
BY  CHARLOTTE  M.  VAILE.    316  pp.    Cloth,  $1.50. 

A  well-told  story  of  school  life  which  will  interest  its  readers  deeply  and  hold 
before  them  a  high  standard  of  living.  The  heroines  are  charming  girls  and  their 
adventures  are  described  in  an  entertaining  way.  —  Pilgrim  Tracker. 

Mrs.  Vaile  gives  us  a  story  here  which  will  become  famous  as  a  description  of  • 
phase  of  New  England  educational  history  which  has  now  become  a  thing  of  the  past, 
with  an  exception  here  and  there.  —  Boston  Trantcript. 


ORCUTT.     A  Sequel  to  "  The  Orcutt  Girls."     BY 
CHARLOTTE  M.  VAILE.     330  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

It  is  a  charming  story  from  beginning  to  end  and  is  written  in  that  easy  flowing 
style  which  characterizes  the  best  stones  of  our  best  writers.  —  Christian  H'ork. 

It  is  wholly  a  piece  of  good  fortune  for  young  folks  that  brings  this  book  to  market 
in  such  ample  season  for  the  selection  of  holiday  gifts.  —  Denver  Republican. 

The  story  teaches  a  good  moral  without  any  preaching,  in  fact  it  is  as  good  in  a  way 
as  Miss  Alcott's  books,  which  is  high  but  deserved  praise.  —  Chronicle. 

rHE  M.  M.  C.  A  Story  of  the  Great  Rockies.  BY 
CHARLOTTE  M.  VAILE.  232pp.  Cloth,  $1.25. 

The  pluck  of  the  little  school  teacher,  struggling  against  adverse  circumstance*,  to 
hold  for  her  friend  the  promising  claim,  which  ne  has  secured  after  years  of  misfortune 
in  other  ventures,  is  well  brought  out.  The  almost  resistless  bad  luck  which  has  made 
"  Old  Hppefull's  "  nickname  a  hollow  mockery  still  followed  him  when  a  fortune  was 
almost  within  his  grasp.  The  little  school  teacher  was,  however,  a  new  element  in  "  <  »ld 
Hopefull's"  experience,  and  the  result,  as  the  story  shows,  was  most  satisfactory. 

CT-HE  ROMANCE  OF  DISCOVERY ;  or,  a  Thousand 
J.       Years  of  Exploration,  etc.     BY   WILLIAM    ELLIOT  GRIKHV 

305  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

It  is  a  book  of  profit  and  interest  involving  a  variety  of  correlated  instance*  and 
influences  which  impart  the  flavor  of  the  unexpected.  —  Philadelfhia  t'retbyteria*. 
An  intensely  interesting  narrative  following  well-authenticated  history.  —  Ttleuffe. 
Hoys  will  read  it  for  the  romance  in  it  and  be  delighted,  and  when  they  get  through, 
behold  :   they  have  read  a  history  of  America.  —  A  wakener. 

rHE  ROMANCE  OF  AMERICAN  COLONIZA- 
TION; or,  How  the  Foundations  of  Our  Country  Were  Laid. 
BY  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIKFIS.  295  pp.  Cloth,  $1.50. 

To  this  continent,  across  a  great  ocean,  came  two  distinct  streams  of  humanity 
and  two  rival  civilizations,  — the  one  Latin,  led  and  typified  by  the  Spanish.  with 
Portugese  and  h  renth  also,  and  the  other  Germanic,  or  Anglo-Saxon,  led  and  typined 
by  the  Knglish  and  reinforced  by  Dutch,  German,  and  British  people. 

SON  OF    THE    REVOLUTION.     An  Historical 
Novel  of  the  Days  of  Aaron  Burr.     BY  ELBRIDGE  S.  BROOKS. 

301  pp.     Cloth,  5i-5O. 
The  story  of  Tom  Edwards,  adventurer,  as  it  U  connected  with  Aaron  Bw. to 
in  every  way  faithful  to  the  facts  of  history.     As  the  story  progresses  the  read< 
wonder  where  the  line  between  fact  and  fiction  is  to  be  drawn.    Among  the  ch 
that  figure  in  it  are  President  Jefferson.  Gen    Andrew  Jackson,  General  Wilkin*o«, 
and  many  other  prominent  government  and  army  officials. 

W.  A.  Wilde  <&*  Co.,  Boston  and  Chitago. 


W.  A.  Wilde  6-  Co.,  Publishers. 


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ALVERN,  A    NEIGHBORHOOD   STORY.     BY 
ELLEN  DOUGLAS  DELANO.     341  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

Her  descriptions  of  boys  and  girls  are  so  true,  and  her  knowledge  of  their  ways  is 
so  accurate,  that  one  must  feel  an  admiration  for  her  complete  mastery  of  her  chosen 
field.  —  The  A rgns,  Albany. 

Miss  Deland  was  accorded  a  place  with  Louisa  M.  Alcott  and  Nora  Perry  as  a 
successful  writer  of  books  for  girls.  We  think  this  praise  none  too  high.  —  The  Post. 

SUCCESSFUL    VENTURE.     BY  ELLEN    DOUGLAS 
DELAND.     340  pp.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

One  of  the  many  successful  books  that  have  come  from  her  pen,  which  is  certainly 
the  very  best.  —  Boston  Herald. 

It  is  a  good  piece  of  work  and  its  blending  of  good  sense  and  entertainment  will  be 
appreciated.  —  Congregationalist. 

:4TRINA.      BY   ELLEN    DOUGLAS    DELAND.      340  pp. 

Cloth,  $1.50. 

"  Katrina  "  is  the  story  of  a  girl  who  was  brought  up  by  an  aunt  in  a  remote  village 
of  Vermont.  Her  life  is  somewhat  lonely  until  a  family  from  New  York  come  there  to 
board  during  the  summer.  Katrina's  aunt,  who  is  a  reserved  woman,  has  told  her  little 
of  her  antecedents,  and  she  supposes  that  she  has  no  other  relatives.  Her  New  York 
friends  grow  very  fond  of  her  and  finally  persuade  her  to  visit  them  during  the  winter. 
There  new  pleasures  and  new  temptations  present  themselves,  and  Katrina's  character 
develops  through  them  to  new  strength. 

BOVE  THE  RANGE.     BY  THEODORA  R.  JENNESS. 
332  pp.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

The  quaintness  of  the  characters  described  will  be  sure  to  make  the  story  very  pop- 
ular. —  Book  News,  Philadelphia. 

A  book  of  much  interest  and  novelty.  —  The  Book  Buyer,  New  York. 

IG  CYPRESS.     BY  KIRK  MUNROE.     164  pp.    Cloth, 

$1.00. 

If  there  is  a  man  who  understands  writing  a  story  for  boys  better  than  another,  it  is 
Kirk  Munroe.  — Springfield  Republican. 

A  capital  writer  of  boys'  stories  is  Mr.  Kirk  Munroe.  —  Outlook. 

^OREMAN  JENNIE.    BY  AMOS  R.  WELLS.    A  Young 
Woman  of  Business.     268  pp.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

It  is  a  delightful  story.  —  The  Advance,  Chicago. 

It  is  full  of  action.  —  The  Standard,  Chicago. 

A  story  of  decided  merit.  —  The  Efnvortfi  Herald,  Chicago. 

1\/JYSTERIOUS    VOYAGE     OF  THE   DAPHNE. 
J-VJL     BY  LIEUT.  H.  P.  WHITMARSH.    305  pp.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

One  of  the  best  collections  of  short  stories  for  boys  and  girls  that  has  been  pub- 
lished in  recent  years  Such  writers  as  Hezekiah  Butterworth,  Wm.  O.  Stoddard,  and 
Jane  G.  Austin  have  contributed  characteristic  stories  which  add  greatly  to  the  general 
interest  of  the  book. 

W.  A.  Wilde  6°  Co.,  Boston  and  Chicago. 


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IV.  A.  Wilde  &>  Co.,  Publishers. 


PHILIP  LEICESTER.      BY  Ji  -  ;,    I  .  \VKK;HT.     264 
pp.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

The  book  ought  to  make  any  reader  thankful  for  a  good  home,  and  thoughtful  for 
the  homeless  and  neglected.  —  Golden  Rule. 

The  story  is  intensely  interesting.  —  Ckrutiati 


S^AP'N  THISTLETOP.    Bv  SOPHIE  SWETT.     282  pp. 
\*J     Cloth,  $1.25. 

Sophie  Swett  knows  how  to  please  young  folks  as  well  as  old  ;  for  both  she  writes 
simple,  unaffected,  cheerful  stories  with  a  judicious  mingling  of  humor  and  plot.  Such 
a  story  is  "  Cap'n  Thistletop."  —  The  Outlook. 


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ADY  BETTY'S  TWINS.     BY  E.  M.  WATERWORTH. 

117  pp.     With  12  illustrations.     75  cents. 

The  story  of  a  little  boy  and  girl  who  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"  obedience.''    They  learned  the  lesson,  however,  after  some  trying  experience*. 

CT'HE  MOONSTONE  KING.    Bv  JENNIE  CHAPPELL. 
JL       n8pp.     With  6  illustrations.     75  cents. 

A  home  story  with  the  true  ring  to  it.    The  happenings  of  the  story  are  somewhat 
out  of  the  usual  run  of  events. 

rHE  BEACON  LIGHT  SERIES.     EDITED  BY  N  \  i  - 
ALIE  L.  RICE.     5  vols.     Fully  Illustrated.    The  Set,  $2.50. 


selec 


The  stories  contained  in  this  set  of  books  are  all  by  well-known  writer*,  c 

cted  and  edited,  and  they  cannot,  therefore,  fail  to  be  both  helpful  and  instructive. 


rHE    ALLAN  BOOKS.      Edited    by    Miss     LUCY 
WHEELOCK.     10  vols.     Over  400  illustrations.    The  set   in  a 

One^  *e  Sit  and  most  attractive  sets  of  books  for  little  folk,  ev  er 
They  are  full  of  bright  and  pleasing  illustrations  and  charmmg  little  it, 
to  young  children. 

HE  MARJORIE  BOOKS.     Edited  by  Miss  LUCY 
WHEELOCK.    6  vols.     Over  200  illustrations.     The  set,  11.50. 


A  very  attractive  set  of  books  for  the  little  folks,  full  of  picture,  and  food  «ori~ 

T\OTS  LIBRARY.    Edited  by  Miss  LUCY  WHEELOCK. 
D     10  vols.     Over  400  illustrations.     The  set,  $: 

In  every  way  a  most  valuable  set  of  book,  for  the  little  people-     Mta.  Wh^loek 

possess  raVe  skill  in  interesting  and  enterta.mng  th 


.  A.  Wilde  &  Co.,  Boston  and  Cktiago. 
1 


W.  A.  Wilde  &>  Co.,  Publishers. 


PELOUBETS  SELECT  NOTES.  BY  F.  N.  PELOU- 
BET,  D.  D.,  and  M.  A.  PELOUBET.  A  Commentary  on  the  Inter- 
national Sunday-school  Lessons.  Illustrated.  340  pp.  Cloth,  $1.25. 

This  commentary  is  the  one  book  every  teacher  must  have  in  order  to  do  the  best 
work.  It  interprets  the  Scripture,  illustrates  the  truths,  and  by  striking  comments  con- 
vinces the  mind. 

It  is  comprehensive,  and  yet  not  verbose,  and  furnishes  winnowed  material  in  the 
most  attractive  and  yet  convincing  form  from  both  spiritual  and  practical  standpoints. 
Accurate  colored  maps  and  profuse  original  illustrations  illuminate  the  text,  and  create  an 
intelligent  and  instructive  view  of  the  subject  matter. 

Teachers  are  invited  to  send  for  sample  pages  of  "  Select  Notes." 

717  AYS  OF  WORKING;  or,  Helpful  Hints  to  Sunday- 
rr        school  Workers  of  all  Kinds.     BY  REV.  A.  F.  SCHAUFFLER, 
D.  D.     238  pp.     Cloth,  $1.00. 

A  really  helpful  manual  for  Sunday-school  workers.  —  The  Sunday-school  Times. 

It  unlocks  the  door  to  the  treasure-house  of  Sunday-school  success.  —  F.  N. 
Peloubet,  D.  D. 

The  best  all-around  book  for  a  Sunday-school  worker  I  know  of.  —  Marion  Law- 
rence, Secretary  Ohio  State  S.  S.  Association. 

This  book  absolutely  covers  every  phase  of  Sunday-school  work  in  a  clear,  instruc- 
tive manner,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  of  marked  benefit  to  every  worker.  Send  for  sample 
pages. 

OtPECIAL  SONGS  AND  SEX  VICES  for  Primary  and 
O      Intermediate  Classes.     Compiled  by  MRS.  M.  G.  KENNEDY.     160 
pp.     Price,  45  cents.     $40.00  per  hundred. 

The  book  contains  Exercises  for  Christmas,  Easter,  Children's  Day,  Harvest,  etc.; 
Lessons  on  Lord's  Prayer,  Commandments,  Books  of  the  Bible,  Missions,  and  many 
other  subjects.  Adapted  to  Primary  and  Intermediate  Classes,  Junior  Endeavor 
Societies,  etc. 

It  has  ninety  pages  of  new,  bright  music  for  all  occasions,  including  a  large  number 
of  Motion  Songs  that  are  now  so  popular.  We  feel  sure  the  book  will  prove  instruc- 
tive, interesting,  and  entertaining.  It  is  printed  on  heavy  paper,  bound  in  board  covers. 
Sample  pages  sent  on  application. 


CT~*HE  PALM  BRANCH;  or,  the  Gospel  in  Song.     BY 
J.       MRS.  J.  A.  HODGE.     112   pp.     Price,   35   cents   each;  $30.00 
per  hundred  copies. 

A  new  hymn  book  for  little  children  in  the  Sunday  school  and  home.  Its  object  is 
to  call  fortli  the  love  of  the  children  to  Christ,  by  teaching  them  the  truths  concerning 
Christ,  and  their  relation  to  Him.  The  language  is  therefore  simple,  within  their  com- 
prehension. The  music  has  been  carefully  selected  from  good  composers,  of  a  high 
order,  and  well  adapted  to  the  voices  of  children.  Another  peculiarity  of  the  book 
is  that  it  is  beautifully  illustrated  with  seven  full-page  pictttres. 

&UNDA  Y-SCHOOL    PICTURES.     Illustrating  the  In- 
O      ternational   Sunday-School  Lessons.     A   set  of  Sixteen  Pictures 
for  each  Quarter. 

Each  picture  is  printed  on  7  x  9  inch  heavy  card,  and  the  set  enclosed  in  a  neat  port- 
folio, costing  only  35  cents  in  heavy  manila,  or  50  cents  in  cloth.  Circular  free. 

W.  A.  Wilde  &>  Co.,  Boston  and  Chicago. 
8 


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